Romelu Lukaku | Mourinho Part III | Roma watch

Red_toad

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Wait... Does that mean we've been overrating Smalling's performances in Roma?
He’s out performing both of the Caf’s summer dream defender signings in that league. So credit where credit is due. I’d say a lot were over critical of his performances at United.
As for Lukaku he’s scoring goals and having fun.
 

Sayros

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I couldn't believe the quotes from Lukaku posted on the title of the thread, but reading the full context it's interesting to see how the media basically broke him within the first game. While I agree how ridiculous some of the media can be in England, you have to be a bit stronger than that mentally and just deal with it. It's good that he's doing well at Inter now, but that sort of mentality is not really what you want when the going gets tough.
 

Offside

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Proof that even if you score 27 goals in your first season, to play for this club you will still get ousted with a first-touch like that. We've been spoilt with the very best forwards so this mug will stick out.

He was far too much of a lump and is much better suited to a smaller, but still massive club in Inter Milan playing in a league that is far weaker than it used to be.
 

Rooney in Paris

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In one thread, the reason Ronaldo isn't putting up his usual numbers is because serie A is the hardest league to score goals in.

In another, Lukaku is only scoring goals because the league is dog shit.
Are any posters holding contradicting views in this regard? Because it could also just be down to, you know, this being an internet forum and having thousands of people with different opinions?
 

11101

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Such as...? Genuinely curious
All transfers from France to England over the last 3 years (ratings from the Mirror)


Players who stayed at the same level or improved:
Abdoulayre Doucoure - Rennes to Watford - £9.5m MF verdict: HIT
Joao Moutinho - Monaco to Wolves - £5m MF verdict: HIT
N'Golo Kante - Caen to Leicester MF verdict: HIT
Dimitri Payet - Marseille to West Ham MF verdict: HIT
Yohan Cabaye - PSG to Crystal Palace MF verdict: HIT
Anthony Martial - Monaco to Manchester United MF verdict: HIT
Fabinho - Monaco to Liverpool MF verdict: HIT
Issa Diop - Toulouse to West Ham - £22m MF verdict: HIT

Seen as successful but still dropped from their performances in France:
David Luiz - PSG to Chelsea MF verdict: HIT - nowhere near his PSG levels
Serge Aurier - PSG to Tottenham MF verdict: HIT - never fully nailed down his spot at Spurs
Alexandre Lacazette - Lyon to Arsenal MF verdict: HIT - still nowhere near his Lyon levels
Bernardo Silva - Monaco to Manchester City MF verdict: HIT - back up there now but took him over a season to force his way into the starting lineup
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - PSG to Manchester United MF verdict: HIT - good for us but still scored less than half the goals he did in France the season before
Steve Mounie - Montpellier to Huddersfield - £11.7m MF verdict: HIT - went from 14 goals in Ligue 1 to just 2 before being relegated in the PL
Kamil Grosicki - Rennes to Hull - £8m MF verdict: HIT - immediately relegated and now in the Championship
Lys Mousset - Le Havre to Bournemouth - £5.25m MF verdict: HIT - went from 14 goals in one season to 3 in 3 years in the PL
Jordan Ayew - Lorient to Aston Villa - £10.8m MF verdict: HIT - never been prolific but his goals tally is less than it was in France
Andre Ayew - Marseille to Swansea - Free MF verdict: HIT - started well but struggled ever since the first few games and now in the Championship
Idrissa Gueye - Lille to Aston Villa - £8m MF verdict: HIT - relegated at Villa and now gone back to France


The rest were deemed as flops or undecided:
Benjamin Mendy - Monaco to Manchester City MF verdict: TBC
Tiemoue Bakayoko - Monaco to Chelsea MF verdict: MISS
Michy Batshuayi - Marseille to Chelsea MF verdict: MISS
Didier Ndong - Lorient to Sunderland MF verdict: MISS
Sofiane Boufal - Lille to Southampton MF verdict: MISS
Florian Thauvin - Marseille to Newcastle MF verdict: MISS
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou - Marseille to Tottenham MF verdict: MISS
Steve Mandanda - Marseille to Crystal Palace MF verdict: MISS
Grzegorz Krychowiak - PSG to West Brom MF verdict: MISS
Jean Michael Seri - Nice to Fulham - £25m MF verdict: MISS
Rachid Ghezzal - Monaco to Leicester - £10m MF verdict MISS
Matteo Guendouzi - Lorient to Arsenal - £7m MF verdict: JURY'S OUT
Jese Rodriguez - PSG to Stoke - Loan MF verdict: MISS
Terence Kongolo - Monaco to Huddersfield - Loan MF verdict: JURY'S OUT
Nampalys Mendy - Nice to Leicester - £12m MF verdict: MISS
Brice Dja Djedje - Marseille to Watford - £3.2m MF verdict: MISS
Jeremy Pied - Nice to Southampton- Free MF verdict: MISS
Clinton N'Jie - Lyon to Tottenham - £12.5m MF verdict: MISS
Whabi Khazri - Bordeaux to Sunderland - £10.5m MF verdict: MISS
Jordan Amavi - Nice to Aston Villa - £10m MF verdict: MISS

Jordan Veretout - Nantes to Aston Villa - £9m MF verdict: MISS
Max Gradel - St-Etienne to Bournemouth - £9m MF verdict: MISS
Lamine Kone - Lorient to Sunderland - £5.85m MF verdict: MISS
Henri Saivet - Bordeaux to Newcastle - £5.5m MF verdict: MISS
Franck Tabanou - St-Etienne to Swansea - £4m MF verdict: MISS
Papy Djilobodji - Nantes to Chelsea - £3m MF verdict: MISS
Falcao - Monaco to Chelsea - Loan MF verdict: MISS
Ola Toivonen - Rennes to Sunderland - Loan MF verdict: MISS
 

giorno

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@11101 i meant example of players who moved from england to france actually
 

11101

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Serge Aurier a Hit? He has been awful
It's the Mirror what do you expect

@11101 i meant example of players who moved from england to france actually
I'm sure Google knows the answer, though there is probably not many who succeed in England and still go to France.

Luiz did it and became a world beater at PSG. Payet did it. Herrera, though he was slowing down a bit.
 

GifLord

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It's the Mirror what do you expect



I'm sure Google knows the answer, though there is probably not many who succeed in England and still go to France.

Luiz did it and became a world beater at PSG. Payet did it. Herrera, though he was slowing down a bit.
Just look at this world beater
:lol:
 

freeurmind

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All transfers from France to England over the last 3 years (ratings from the Mirror)


Players who stayed at the same level or improved:
Abdoulayre Doucoure - Rennes to Watford - £9.5m MF verdict: HIT
Joao Moutinho - Monaco to Wolves - £5m MF verdict: HIT
N'Golo Kante - Caen to Leicester MF verdict: HIT
Dimitri Payet - Marseille to West Ham MF verdict: HIT
Yohan Cabaye - PSG to Crystal Palace MF verdict: HIT
Anthony Martial - Monaco to Manchester United MF verdict: HIT
Fabinho - Monaco to Liverpool MF verdict: HIT
Issa Diop - Toulouse to West Ham - £22m MF verdict: HIT

Seen as successful but still dropped from their performances in France:
David Luiz - PSG to Chelsea MF verdict: HIT - nowhere near his PSG levels
Serge Aurier - PSG to Tottenham MF verdict: HIT - never fully nailed down his spot at Spurs
Alexandre Lacazette - Lyon to Arsenal MF verdict: HIT - still nowhere near his Lyon levels
Bernardo Silva - Monaco to Manchester City MF verdict: HIT - back up there now but took him over a season to force his way into the starting lineup
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - PSG to Manchester United MF verdict: HIT - good for us but still scored less than half the goals he did in France the season before
Steve Mounie - Montpellier to Huddersfield - £11.7m MF verdict: HIT - went from 14 goals in Ligue 1 to just 2 before being relegated in the PL
Kamil Grosicki - Rennes to Hull - £8m MF verdict: HIT - immediately relegated and now in the Championship
Lys Mousset - Le Havre to Bournemouth - £5.25m MF verdict: HIT - went from 14 goals in one season to 3 in 3 years in the PL
Jordan Ayew - Lorient to Aston Villa - £10.8m MF verdict: HIT - never been prolific but his goals tally is less than it was in France
Andre Ayew - Marseille to Swansea - Free MF verdict: HIT - started well but struggled ever since the first few games and now in the Championship
Idrissa Gueye - Lille to Aston Villa - £8m MF verdict: HIT - relegated at Villa and now gone back to France


The rest were deemed as flops or undecided:
Benjamin Mendy - Monaco to Manchester City MF verdict: TBC
Tiemoue Bakayoko - Monaco to Chelsea MF verdict: MISS
Michy Batshuayi - Marseille to Chelsea MF verdict: MISS
Didier Ndong - Lorient to Sunderland MF verdict: MISS
Sofiane Boufal - Lille to Southampton MF verdict: MISS
Florian Thauvin - Marseille to Newcastle MF verdict: MISS
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou - Marseille to Tottenham MF verdict: MISS
Steve Mandanda - Marseille to Crystal Palace MF verdict: MISS
Grzegorz Krychowiak - PSG to West Brom MF verdict: MISS
Jean Michael Seri - Nice to Fulham - £25m MF verdict: MISS
Rachid Ghezzal - Monaco to Leicester - £10m MF verdict MISS
Matteo Guendouzi - Lorient to Arsenal - £7m MF verdict: JURY'S OUT
Jese Rodriguez - PSG to Stoke - Loan MF verdict: MISS
Terence Kongolo - Monaco to Huddersfield - Loan MF verdict: JURY'S OUT
Nampalys Mendy - Nice to Leicester - £12m MF verdict: MISS
Brice Dja Djedje - Marseille to Watford - £3.2m MF verdict: MISS
Jeremy Pied - Nice to Southampton- Free MF verdict: MISS
Clinton N'Jie - Lyon to Tottenham - £12.5m MF verdict: MISS
Whabi Khazri - Bordeaux to Sunderland - £10.5m MF verdict: MISS
Jordan Amavi - Nice to Aston Villa - £10m MF verdict: MISS

Jordan Veretout - Nantes to Aston Villa - £9m MF verdict: MISS
Max Gradel - St-Etienne to Bournemouth - £9m MF verdict: MISS
Lamine Kone - Lorient to Sunderland - £5.85m MF verdict: MISS
Henri Saivet - Bordeaux to Newcastle - £5.5m MF verdict: MISS
Franck Tabanou - St-Etienne to Swansea - £4m MF verdict: MISS
Papy Djilobodji - Nantes to Chelsea - £3m MF verdict: MISS
Falcao - Monaco to Chelsea - Loan MF verdict: MISS
Ola Toivonen - Rennes to Sunderland - Loan MF verdict: MISS
A few of those misses were overpriced players who were also dogshite at a big club in France.
 

JPRouve

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There must be very very few great players around then if you think so


Immobile struggled at dortmund mainly because he hated dortmund. Hard to do your job well when you want to be somewhere else all the time...

But anyways, good players will generally be good in whatever league you put them so long as they have the right conditions to do well
Of course there is few great players around, that's why they are great.
 

GDaly95

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Is this bastard living rent free in anyone else's head?

I don't know what it is man, he just makes my skin crawl. The way he displayed such a shit attitude, came back from a WC unfit and remained that way, talked about how he was looking for the exit door after two games, released that training session info, made a few smug social media posts since getting to Inter.

As well as that, I fully believes that he goes to bed at night fully believing he was too good for United, and that pisses me off too.

It's actually embarrassing how bitter I am towards this guy :lol: I was on cloud 9 when we signed him. I remember tweeting about how much I wanted him over fecking Griezmann. Thought he was gonna be the absolute business.

I desperately want to meet Inter in the Europa
 

JPRouve

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Plenty of players have come to England from France and found it more difficult (Ibrahimovic), and plenty went the other way and became world beaters (Depay). I can't think of any who found it easier in England.
Ibrahimovic was surrounded by far better players at PSG and scored a fair amount of goals for United. Depay became what he is with time and coaching, it's also worth noting that his performances have improved at CL and international level too so it's not a matter of playing in Ligue 1, it also doesn't support your point that almost all PL players would do well in Ligue 1, whatever that is supposed to mean. Average to below average Ligue 1 players are being average to below average PL players, the main difference with players coming from Ligue 1 is that they are generally young and still developing, which carries risks. When I see the likes of Maupay, Digne, Sidibé, Lovren and many others doing okay in the PL when they were shoddy during their last years in Ligue 1, I can tell you that your statement is based on very little and that there is actually many examples that leads to doubts, particularly when their are players who struggled in Ligue 1 coming from England, Fabregas and Cabaye or players that weren't comparatively better like David Luiz.

The main issue with players coming from Ligue 1 is that some are for some reasons badly evaluated, Bakayoko was a flop for Monaco at the exception of 4 or 5 months were he was inexplicably good which has led to one of the most ridiculous hype and Monaco fleecing Chelsea. Sissoko was a bang average player at Toulouse and I still don't understand how he got a move to Newcastle, Anguissa was and still is a laughing stock in France and at Marseille, Thauvin was a flop at Marseille after a promising start with Bastia, they tried to get rid of him and he was as bad at Newcastle. The idea that the players who flopped in the PL were good in Ligue 1 is often wrong, a large part of the time they were bad in Ligue 1.
 

RooneyLegend

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We're a mess ATM. Not surprising to hear that certain players don't want to be here especially though that consider themselves big names. Itd be amazing if they wanted to stay given our club has zero direction and seemingly no intention of getting better anytime soon.
 

Icemav

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We're a mess ATM. Not surprising to hear that certain players don't want to be here especially though that consider themselves big names. Itd be amazing if they wanted to stay given our club has zero direction and seemingly no intention of getting better anytime soon.
Best stick to the juniors who get prepped for the pressure, and really scout deeply for those who are ready for the battle. United is not a place for the easy life.

Lukaku is a good goal scorer but far for a well rounded player. And definitely not the right character for us. We have our dynamism back again and we need to keep building on that.
 

Isotope

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I couldn't believe the quotes from Lukaku posted on the title of the thread, but reading the full context it's interesting to see how the media basically broke him within the first game. While I agree how ridiculous some of the media can be in England, you have to be a bit stronger than that mentally and just deal with it. It's good that he's doing well at Inter now, but that sort of mentality is not really what you want when the going gets tough.
Was he alluding that the media in Italy is better than in England?
 

mu4c_20le

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Ibrahimovic was surrounded by far better players at PSG and scored a fair amount of goals for United. Depay became what he is with time and coaching, it's also worth noting that his performances have improved at CL and international level too so it's not a matter of playing in Ligue 1,
Looks like the same Depay to me, just seems much more confident, gets played up front regularly and has more time and space with the ball. Still tends to miss a lot of sitters, but he always had decent technique and a good strike, so I'm not too surprised that he's scoring there. He couldn't handle the pace and press of the PL.
 

JPRouve

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Looks like the same Depay to me, just seems much more confident, gets played up front regularly and has more time and space with the ball. Still tends to miss a lot of sitters, but he always had decent technique and a good strike, so I'm not too surprised that he's scoring there. He couldn't handle the pace and press of the PL.
He isn't the same player though, he is more consistent, more team oriented and it took him a bit of time to be there. Unless if you think that gaining in maturity and decision making isn't part of a player development and it doesn't make a player different.
 

Conor

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In one thread, the reason Ronaldo isn't putting up his usual numbers is because serie A is the hardest league to score goals in.

In another, Lukaku is only scoring goals because the league is dog shit.
Crazy how different people have different opinions on a huge forum.
 

RooneyLegend

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Best stick to the juniors who get prepped for the pressure, and really scout deeply for those who are ready for the battle. United is not a place for the easy life.

Lukaku is a good goal scorer but far for a well rounded player. And definitely not the right character for us. We have our dynamism back again and we need to keep building on that.
Not sure what dynamism you're talking about but oh well. He's obviously not a well rounded player but he's lucky he found a top class coach that suits his game. No surprise he's doing well while we're still flailing around.
 

Icemav

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Not sure what dynamism you're talking about but oh well. He's obviously not a well rounded player but he's lucky he found a top class coach that suits his game. No surprise he's doing well while we're still flailing around.
Oh I see. You see the world the same way he does.
 

NewGlory

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Is this bastard living rent free in anyone else's head?

I don't know what it is man, he just makes my skin crawl. The way he displayed such a shit attitude, came back from a WC unfit and remained that way, talked about how he was looking for the exit door after two games, released that training session info, made a few smug social media posts since getting to Inter.

As well as that, I fully believes that he goes to bed at night fully believing he was too good for United, and that pisses me off too.

It's actually embarrassing how bitter I am towards this guy :lol: I was on cloud 9 when we signed him. I remember tweeting about how much I wanted him over fecking Griezmann. Thought he was gonna be the absolute business.

I desperately want to meet Inter in the Europa
Without his lightening opening goal we would not have beat PSG in Champions League. So at least he did that.

Agree that he's been way to smug and bitter ever since Ole told him he wasn't our preferred starting striker.
 

lsd

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Without his lightening opening goal we would not have beat PSG in Champions League. So at least he did that.

Agree that he's been way to smug and bitter ever since Ole told him he wasn't our preferred starting striker.

That wasn't him that scored as according to the caf he cannot score in big games
 

GifLord

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That wasn't him that scored as according to the caf he cannot score in big games
His stats speak volumes. He can't even do it against italy's top 5 let alone the UCL against a weak Barca B team.
When it matters the most he fails miserably. Has no composure at all
 

MalcolmTucker

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His stats speak volumes. He can't even do it against italy's top 5 let alone the UCL against a weak Barca B team.
When it matters the most he fails miserably. Has no composure at all
1 goal in 20 PL games against the top 6 for us. 1 fecking goal! :lol:
 

Mainoldo

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DBT85

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Leaving United helped me rediscover myself - Lukaku
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020/0124/1110570-leaving-united-helped-me-rediscover-myself-lukaku/
Just took this snippet from the article.
Lukaku added: "I think Jose Mourinho - if he would have had the players that he wanted, he would have done better than what we did."
lifted from a sky sports interview

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-racism-antonio-conte-and-life-at-inter-milan

Interesting that he decided to leave in March, told the club, but yet wasn't sold until 2 days before the window shut.

Just about sums the club up really.
 

MalcolmTucker

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Interesting interview, whenever I hear people talking about moving to Serie A they always talk about how hard and professional the training is.
 

Samid

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Only saw the final 15 minutes today but he killed half a dozen attacks by fouling, going offside and being a donkey in general.
 

Foxbatt

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I thought his hold up play is now a lot better than when he was with us.
 

11101

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I thought his hold up play is now a lot better than when he was with us.
Because hes not getting closed down anywhere near as hard. He has time for the ball to bounce up and down a bit before he gets tackled now.

Much like how Smalling gets next to no pressure on the ball and Young will become a world beater soon too.
 

Red_toad

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lifted from a sky sports interview

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-racism-antonio-conte-and-life-at-inter-milan

Interesting that he decided to leave in March, told the club, but yet wasn't sold until 2 days before the window shut.

Just about sums the club up really.
Sums the club up how exactly? Inter spent weeks trying to low ball us, there were other teams interested and we actually got a good fee for him.
So please explain how it sums the club up? Would you rather the sold him for 10 million less and just caved into demands? Or not sold him at any price?
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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It will forever confuse me that supporters will want a player out, then want him to fail elsewhere.

Lukaku was a good signing for Jose. Neither of them worked out, but both were good hires.

Lukaku is a top 10-20 forward in world football. That may say more about the quality of number 9’s than it says about him, but he’s a good goal scorer that will put up a good return in a team that gives him good service.

Really impressed with what Conte is doing with him. But also glad that he’s gone.