Romelu Lukaku claims he was scapegoated with two other players at Manchester United

[McGrathsipan]

Lukaku should watch a video of himself playing.

I have seen brick walls with better first touches and Turtles with higher vertical leaps.

"So is it me?"

If you planted a tree up front and bounced the ball off of it .... id say that tree could ping some nice passes down the channel's the odd time.
Its control would be brutal in General and a complete lack of first touch would be evident. But.... the odd time the ball will go where it's makes a difference.

Thats the Lukaku tree.

 

[Robertd0803]

So according to Lukaku, Ole and Jose are two different managers who wanted to play two different ways. Lukaku couldnt do either properly.

He has already surpassed Di Maria level of dislike for a former player, fast approaching Paul Ince levels for me.

 

[Neil_Buchanan]

What's he going on about? People speak so many words but say so little.

 

[Stacks]

Alexis Sanchez, Lukaku, Matic are the primary culprits as they were bought in for a lot of money, with great premier league experience and are all senior players who flopped hard. this meant that United were then forced to rely on ACADEMY players like Rashford and now McTominay and Lingard who should be squad players in a team of our ambitions. Other clubs could rely on their senior players (Kane, Eriksen, Son, Hazard, Kante, Auba, Lacazette, Salah, Mane, VVD WHOLE CITY SIDE) where as ours just disappointed week after week. If Sanchez was 80% as good as he was at Arsenal and Lukaku could score in more than 30% of games we'd be in the top 3. Lukaku is a bitch with a complete lack of self awareness which I noticed in his ESPN interview. Footballers should be accountable for their roles and stop whining. you were bought in to do bits and you let the club down. scoring for 3 months is not good enough. You were supposed to be our Kane, our Kun but instead you are Darren Bent. Our biggest flaw was that Zlatan was replaced by Lukaku as at least Zlatan could link up and bully defenders, score wonder goals, show up in big games and be a leader, despite missing chances. Lukaku hides, gets pocketed and stat pads vs terrible teams.

I thought he was a big man and could "deal with it".

 

[Stacks]

Lukaku, Pogba and Sanchez were criticised a lot. And it was deserved for all three, they all underperformed in various ways which impacted the club alot more than other players because of their cost, wages and seniority.

I'm getting really fed up of elite high paid players whinging and moaning when they get criticised, and then want to leave the club because we haven qualified for Champions League etc. Someone should explain to them that they share a disproportionate amount of responsibility to make sure we succeed, that's why they get bought for astronomical transfer fee's, , are paid the big bucks, and get the superstar exposure. And likewise, when we fail, they should accept a disproportionate amount of the criticism and blame.

One area I do sympathise with Lukaku is that we never really created a system for his to thrive in, which is nuts, given he was our main goal scorer. And after OGS made it clear that Rasford and Martial were his key strikers, he had to leave ASAP. But while he was at the club, he also had significant failings, and was rightly criticised for it.

Amen. Throw Matic in their too please

 

[tenpoless]

What were the club supposed to protect him from?

Fat Lukaku tweets. The club needs to have a department of manliness protection. No trolls allowed.

Everything that Lukaku thinks isn't manly needs to be dealt accordingly. The fat shamers and bad Lukaku video creators must be all gathered in one place, all lined up for a bout of fisticuffs with him.

 

[Judge Red]

There were no scapegoats, the whole squad was criticised for pathetic performances and attitudes. Everything that's coming out of his mouth now shows why he had to go. He’s only interested in Lukaku. But he’s right, there is a problem at the club. Players like him who are now being kicked out.

 

[stu_1992]

I said it before and I'll say it again. This guy needs to seriously learn to do his talking on the pitch. Want to show that you're right? Do it on the pitch. Make us think we messed up.

All this whining in the media isn't changing the narrative to he was right, the club were wrong. At the end of the day, the club wanted rid of him. Why would they protect him from transfer rumours in that case?

He uses arguments of how his played for the national side as evidence to how he can play in the way Ole wants to play. Well Ole obviously doesn't think so from what's he's seen in training and games close up. Talking about his international record as if there's not a lot of friendlies and games against minnows in there. Even the majority of his world cup goals were against some of the least competitve teams in the tournament.

As for the scapegoat point, is this really true? I don't think so. He wasn't even really playing, I don't think he or Sanchez can be considered a scapegoat. Yes people were unhappy with thr performance levels of both. But neither were in the team. Pogba and Lingard are far more likely to be seen as scapegoats as they actually played and a lot people held them accountable for the team underperforming. Even Rashford too to an extent.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Fat Lukaku tweets. The club needs to have a department of manliness protection. No trolls allowed.

Everything that Lukaku thinks isn't manly needs to be dealt accordingly. The fat shamers and bad Lukaku video creators must be all gathered in one place, all lined up for a bout of fisticuffs with him.

What with having Rooney on books for so many years and Luke Shaw do we have the staffing capacity to protect them all from fat jibes?

 

[kouroux]

Tad harsh.

He scored good goals against Palace and Southampton with his right.

Not what we needed but the criticism of him is going way over the top.

Just go with the flow you sourpuss

 

[AshRK]

Oh shit, you're right. I forgot that Ibra took the #10 and I forgot about Rooney leaving too.

Man, Ibra was a proper United #9. We created the amount of chances we did in 16/17 because of him. Could do with him right now teaching the young lads, but at least they've got Ole for that!

Yes Ibra would have been amazing for another year or two. Score some important goals while letting Martial, rashford develop.

 

[roonster09]

Yes Ibra would have been amazing for another year or two. Score some important goals while letting Martial, rashford develop.

In that season, he was barely moving and when we played against lower league team he looked worse than lower league players.

We should have signed him few years early but when he left, it was the right time.

 

[Zlatattack]

What a surprise. The three big money signing, the 3 senior attacking players, get slated when the team is playing shit, not creating and scoring many goals.

He made 45 appearances for us last season and scored 15 goals.
Pogba made 34 appearances and scored 9 goals (and like 13 assists).
Sanchez only managed to make 9 appearances and scored 1 goal.

All three of them on world class fees and wages.

Who should we blame? The dross in the squad like Lingard? The guys playing out of position like Mata? Or the 20 year old kid who kept two of them out of the team.

 

[kotha]

Put in enough work to gain a shitload of weight and then somehow fail to shed it over the course of an entire season, or over the summer that followed.

Only difference between them for me is probably the bottle-mockery Di Maria dished out at OT which was annoying is feck, and I'm pretty sure Lukaku celebrated in front of Di Maria's face when Rashford's pen went in so I'll always give him some credit for that.

Actually forgot about that.. Guess he's better than the snake for that alone..

 

[AshRK]

In that season, he was barely moving and when we played against lower league team he looked worse than lower league players.

We should have signed him few years early but when he left, it was the right time.

I think he was doing fine before he got injured. I think the injury took a toll on him. Had he not got injured he would have score 30 plus the next season too and we could have avoided signing Lukaku.

 

[roonster09]

I think he was doing fine before he got injured. I think the injury took a toll on him. Had he not got injured he would have score 30 plus the next season too and we could have avoided signing Lukaku.

Yeah, I'm talking about the 2017-18 season when he came back from injury (maybe he came back too early).

 

[Nick7]

What a surprise. The three big money signing, the 3 senior attacking players, get slated when the team is playing shit, not creating and scoring many goals.

He made 45 appearances for us last season and scored 15 goals.
Pogba made 34 appearances and scored 9 goals (and like 13 assists).
Sanchez only managed to make 9 appearances and scored 1 goal.

All three of them on world class fees and wages.

Who should we blame? The dross in the squad like Lingard? The guys playing out of position like Mata? Or the 20 year old kid who kept two of them out of the team.

Pogba scored 13 goals in the league last season. 16 overall. His best ever goalscoring season, actually.

 

[Nogbadthebad]

Wow.

That is a man who does not take rejection well.

 

[wolvored]

He has to say all this shit to save face. He has this delusion hes another world class striker. He was bought by Mourinho who thought he was another Drogba. Let him have his say it will be old news forgotten this time next week.

 

[Cnaiür urs Skiötha]

I always thought he was one of the few trying to give his best even when we played shit. However, from a footballing perspective he never was really good. From what I have read lurking around an Inter forum 90 % of the fans were totally against signing him as he is not a really good player and stands for a style of football no fan wants his club to play.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

I don't like him as a player but he's telling the truth about feeling like he wasn't protected.

He actually made some valid points. I know people won't bother to take a look at what he said from a rational stand point but rather an emotional one(people hate him on these boards) but the bit about being protected is true. Same with the scapegoating, though this point in especially true in regard to Pogba. That man has been scapegoated to no end and it's still happening with Neville and the media trying to scapegoat him for everything happening wrong right now(although there isn't much wrong happening currently).

He's not wrong tbf.

Agree with these - don't think Rom's time at Utd was actually that bad despite him being a throwback striker who we never really set up for despite signing.

His goals scored throughout his time at Utd is probably the best of any of our strikers since RvP ffs.

 

[devilish]

Yeah, this has already been discussed (and mostly agreed) many times. Not sure why it should be discussed whenever some player is sold.

Lukaku was bad fit for the team, he wanted to leave, we got good offer and he was sold. It was right thing to do. Just because we made mistakes, like extending Mata's contract or giving Jones new contract doesn't mean we have to pass this opportunity to offload player who didn't want to be here.

I am talking from the player's perspective here mate. Why should he be shown the door when we keep retaining and rewarding way worse players by handling them a new contract?

 

[roonster09]

I am talking from the player's perspective here mate.

He got what he wanted isn't it? All year player and agent talked about moving to serie a, he got what he wanted.

 

[RedFish]

Just waiting for the 'Lukaku seen burning United shirt in backyard' video

 

[SilentWitness]

The accent he's putting on in that podcast...

 

[fergiesarmy1]

Didn’t he leak those running stats just a few weeks ago, let it go Rom.

 

[Zlatattack]

Pogba scored 13 goals in the league last season. 16 overall. His best ever goalscoring season, actually.

Yeah. To be fair to him, my only complaint about his was the inconsistency. He swung between excellent games to poor games too often. When he wasn't on fire, there'd be periods where he was just poor and not doing the basics. Although a lot of those goals were penalties too.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Lukaku is a strange guy. He comes across as somebody you'd expect to be a leader, but he's actually quite immature. The fact he's putting on that accent is pure cringe.

At his age, with his experience (starting so much younger than others), he should be considered as a potential captain for whoever he plays for. Yet he probably never will.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Massively overweight at the start of last season due to illogical, and quite frankly ill-informed advice from (apparently) the Belgian coaching staff. Made no headway in losing any of that weight this season. Like Rooney, as soon as a lack of fitness is apparent, the first touch and control disappears, the difference is that Rooney had the skill in the first place.

I'm amazed the club got £73m for him. He will be fine for Inter against Verona and Lecce, but when it comes to the Champions League or against the league's best his lack of technique will be clear.

 

[johanovic]

I did manage to see Lukaku at Old Trafford playing 4 games and his effort was lacking in every game, his touch was awful and he looked heavy, out of form and hardly a striker of the highest caliber.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Just go with the flow you sourpuss

I can't really. He's gone and while he wasn't my favourite player, he wasn't one I disliked either

 

[Inigo Montoya]

I did manage to see Lukaku at Old Trafford playing 4 games and his effort was lacking in every game, his touch was awful and he looked heavy, out of form and hardly a striker of the highest caliber.

He never was. Jose thought he was buying the next Drogba which shows how bad his judgement was. Any decent scouting would have revealed that he was good against shit teams whose defences he could bully but his record against the top teams was horribly poor. Even Everton fans said this immediately after the sale.

His claims that he doesn't have a problem at Belgium ignores what fantastic talents he had supporting him but he has never stood out,never made something out of nothing. Watch him against France in the WC. He was lost and didn't even have the nous of,say Jimenez, to drop and hold up,bring others into play.

 

[Prodigy24]

I did manage to see Lukaku at Old Trafford playing 4 games and his effort was lacking in every game, his touch was awful and he looked heavy, out of form and hardly a striker of the highest caliber.

It really bothers you even more when you see it with your own eyes. I went to the Wolves game at Old Trafford last season and watched him miss sitters and play like a coward. Made my mind up about him after the game.

 

[lsd]

What a surprise. The three big money signing, the 3 senior attacking players, get slated when the team is playing shit, not creating and scoring many goals.

He made 45 appearances for us last season and scored 15 goals.
Pogba made 34 appearances and scored 9 goals (and like 13 assists).
Sanchez only managed to make 9 appearances and scored 1 goal.

All three of them on world class fees and wages.

Who should we blame? The dross in the squad like Lingard? The guys playing out of position like Mata? Or the 20 year old kid who kept two of them out of the team.

You could just support the team

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

He never was. Jose thought he was buying the next Drogba which shows how bad his judgement was..

I don't think Jose ever thought he was remotely in the same stratosphere as Drogba. However there are managers who don't buy if they can't see a clear cut good option on the market and then there are managers who just buy the best of the bad options on hand. Jose is firmly the latter.

 

[PepsiCola]

One of the most unlikable personalities in football.

Utter bellend

 

[manunited1919]

I wonder if this thread would be completely different if instead of saying there should be a man to man conversation he would have just come out and named the ex-teammates that he thinks failed him and not provided the service. Lingard? Perhaps even Rashford?

So while we may not like what he said, it could have been much worse.

 

[Leif GW]

One of the most unlikable personalities in football.

Utter bellend

It's funny because as I remember it when he was having his breakthrough at Anderlecht and subsequently was sold to Chelsea, everyone was raving about how mature and serious he was with his football but also his education.

 

[Rolaholic]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Who is this aimed at?

He's sounded extremely bitter since his move,it was best for all parties to move on.

Him claiming that he wasn't 'protected' by the club is rich when he was THE most protected player under Jose along with Matic and got to start every match even when he was in awful form. He only had a problem when his main man got sacked and he actually had to compete for his place which he failed to do emphatically and decided to whine and sulk instead,he's full of it.

Still wishing him luck at Inter but he won't be remembered fondly with these kinds of sour grapes interviews since leaving. Quite telling that literally no squad player wished him well or said goodbye on social media as they did for Fellaini and Herrera this year...

 

[FootyGirl88]

Oh my gosh he's so cringe, my chest is actually hurting reading this. He has no self awareness whatsoever.