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Romelu Lukaku

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paulbefc said:
I'll just have to completely and strongly disagree with the claim that he got good service tonight.

He should square the ball to Barkley, sure, but he's a striker and was desperate to score and scored in literally that exact situation against Sunderland recently, so he's backed himself. Not the correct decision, but not exactly a crime either.

But what gets me is he's being mercilessly abused 10x worse than any other player in the squad would be for that choice yet the fact that he creates the chance himself by turning his man with back to goal and leaving him for dead in the first place before carrying the ball 40 yards is completely overlooked.
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I think people's main concern in this game is his unwillingness to make runs or show for the ball. In a game at Old Trafford, or any really tough opposition for that matter, it's essential your centre forward is doing this. Without this you will never compete at the top.

Yes, he can make an amazing 40 yard run when the ball is played exactly on his toe. That's exactly the problem though. It always has to be on his terms.

Can we progress with someone who thinks they're above the team?
 
Tubey said:
Wish there was a way to opt out of people "liking" my posts. I say the same thing about Lukaku constantly, but if he scored tonight and we won 2-1 you'd be smashing the dislike button instead.
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Nobody is arsed about how he plays so long as he's scoring. If he doesn't score though then he usually does sweet nothing.
 
LinekersLegs said:
He was good for a game after iirc...but then lost form like he did the other times he's been chatty with the press. Given the previous times you'd think he would just stay quiet.
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Its idiotic, I don't ever remember this club ever saying a player is not for sale for any price. Even if we don't want to sell, its because we were low balled and/or can't a replacement in at the time. Also if its can't find a replacement in time we usually won't keep the player past a season.
 
paulbefc said:
This is what I'm referring to. "No end product". That's clearly not true if you look at his assist stats over years and compare them to similar top strikers like Kane.
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Kane will be involved in the build up play for multi-pass goals; Lukaku rarely is. Lukaku will sometimes make a flick round the corner like he did for Valencia recently, which is instinctive, but when asked to hold play and make intelligent passes around him, he often can't do it.

Granted I exaggerate the point, but the underlying message is valid. And that message is valid whether he scores or we win - a poor performance as a footballer is still a poor performance, even if he gets his toe on the end of one chance.
 

Efcjake said:
Nobody is arsed about how he plays so long as he's scoring. If he doesn't score though then he usually does sweet nothing.
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People should be arsed though, as when he doesn't turn up - which is often - then the entire team suffers.

At least with a less talented goalscorer but more able footballer you can have a degree of consistency with how the team plays as a whole. With Lukaku, you never do, because you don't know whether he's going to absolutely demolish a team or go on a ten game run of doing next to nothing.

For teams, I prefer long term performances and mentality over one-off wins - hence why I can genuinely say I wouldn't have been impressed with three points today because of the manner we set out to do it; you don't win titles being that negative for that long. It's the same with Lukaku - long term performances vastly outweigh pure goal output, because performance effects the effectiveness of the 9 other outfield players on the pitch.
 
Poor tonight. His hold up play was woeful. Needs to learn how to play like costa. Hold it up using his strenght. Love him as he scores goals and is a great player with ball at feet going forward. Not good enough yet back to goal. Too often trying to flick etc.
 

Tubey said:
Kane will be involved in the build up play for multi-pass goals; Lukaku rarely is. Lukaku will sometimes make a flick round the corner like he did for Valencia recently, which is instinctive, but when asked to hold play and make intelligent passes around him, he often can't do it.

Granted I exaggerate the point, but the underlying message is valid. And that message is valid whether he scores or we win - a poor performance as a footballer is still a poor performance, even if he gets his toe on the end of one chance.
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It's odd that Kane is so involved in all of these multi-pass moves in the build-up to goals you talk about and yet he has less than half as many assists as Lukaku in his career. Over 3/4 years. Really strange.

That message hasn't been valid in a good number of games this season. It only takes one or two for long stretches of vastly improved performances to be forgotten.

As for getting his toe on the end of chances, sure, the goals against Leicester away, Sunderland home, Palace home, Bournemouth, City away etc were all practically open goals.
 

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