Pizy

Bit of a selection headache for TT in the very biggest matches. Starting both Lukaku and Werner together could be scary good on the counter against say, City or Liverpool when they press us high. But then you likely have to sacrifice Mount meaning we can’t press as high as we ourselves like to.

Maybe they are still and this whole Lukaku media explosion is all a smokescreen for a stealth Haaland move. 🙃🙃🙃

Needs to hit the ground running and score a few early goals so our supporters get behind him ASAP.

Hopefully Bayern or Real Madrid do their usual very public tapping up of Haaland starting in January so at least if we miss out on him he doesn’t end up in Manchester. Or we need PSG to offer him 600k per week and co-ownership of the Eiffel Tower or something. Getting Lukaku will be much easier to take in the long term if he isn’t directly compared with Haaland at Man United for the next 5 years.

Impressed by his all around game. Pace, power, finishing with both feet and his head. Defenders bouncing off him like he’s a brick wall. Of course if given the choice I’d have Haaland 100 times out of 100. But if he’s impossible and the club is dead set on a striker no matter what this summer he’s the best we can do.

Hope we don’t blow our whole load on Lukaku and still have money for Koundé and potentially a midfielder.

My goodness that’s a fuck load of money.

Koundé weak? He’s a freakin tank! Yeah, Lukaku is a must against the big teams who will actually try to play football. It’s the small teams that I’d be iffy about. Your Burnley’s of the world who will delight in giving us 80% possession and no space to actually do anything with it.

Watching Lukaku’s goal compilation from this last season and you can’t help but be impressed. If you had no preconceived knowledge of his past stint in the PL you’d understand why he’s valued at around 100m. He was incredible last season. Looks like a monstrous freight train in the same way that Haaland does. Just not quite as clean with the ball at his feet. Was lethal with both feet as well as his head and looks much improved holding the ball up with his first touch, though still far from perfect. He’s going to bag us loads of goals against certain opponents. But I just wonder if TT will have the stones to drop a 100m player if we know it’s going to be a poor matchup? Or will he be “too big” for that. Because it’ll be ultra frustrating to watch him in certain matches where teams park 9 men around their penalty area and he is useless.

I mean, if Calvert Lewin and old ass Jamie Vardy can score 15+ and the likes of Ollie Watkins and washed Lacazette can score around 15 I think Lukaku can easily hit that playing in a much better team. The actual goal scoring is the least of my worries with Rom. It’s everything else (team play, longevity, how his body holds up) that worries me.

I think Lukaku will 100% score between 15-20 goals in the PL alone. The question is whether we have to completely change up our formation and style to accommodate him. That’s what I worry about.

Some of this Lukaku criticism is going way overboard now. 😂 None of us want the club to spend 100m on him but some of you are acting like he’s an embarrassment to the sport.

Like I said yesterday, there will be lots of super frustrating spells with Lukaku. There will be games where he simply can’t get into the game at all because there’s no space. Similar to Tammy, really. I’m already preparing myself for the annoyance.

To be fair to Lukaku, he would at least be coming here at the absolute height of his powers. Torres was busted before we bought him, Morata was a huge gamble because he was never the “main man,” and the two midfielders were never great to begin with. They were average before we bought them. As much as I’m against this transfer for this silly money I can’t imagine Lukaku turning into a Torres or Morata like donkey. He’s too good for that.

Yeah, with Thiago Silva at an advanced age and with Koundé a target I think a back 3 is necessary.

Struggling to see how we fit Lukaku, Werner, Havertz, and Mount in the same XI without switching to a back 4. Which I don’t think TT will do. So that means one of Werner or Mount is going to be on the bench quite often which sucks. I think Havertz is nailed on to start. Even if we do switch to a back 4 it would likely mean one of Havertz or Mount out wide which isn’t where you want them.

Hasn’t Pedulla been a proven bullshitter?

Can we at least get Koundé in so he can have a couple weeks of training to settle in… 🙄

This idea that Lukaku would/could feast against smaller teams in the league seems like wishful thinking honestly. Those are the very teams that will park the double decker against us and totally negate Lukaku’s biggest strengths. Ironically, it’s against the bigger teams that also like to press high and force the issue like we do that I can see him bossing. Having both Werner and Lukaku bursting at any defense would be scary. But for well north of 100m it just feels wrong. If it was £70m I’d reluctantly say that’s fair. Or if he were 22 instead of 28.

It just feels like the opposite sort of profile our club have liked recently. We’ve tried to build around younger players who are great technically and have lots of room to improve and sustain or inflate their value. So why then would we spend over 100m on a striker who has zero resale value, is mediocre technique wise, and depends heavily on his pace and power to be effective as he quickly approaches 30? This is why Haaland makes so much sense. He’s much younger and is the exact sort of profile we’ve loved. If Haaland agitates or decided to move in a few years he’d bring us a return of 200m. If Lukaku ends up being a poor fit he becomes a massive anchor who we’d probably have to loan out for a couple of years whilst paying some of his wages. It’s just strange from our club.

One positive thing we probably could count on with Lukaku is him bullying the shit out of Arsenal a couple of times each season. That’ll be funny, I guess. 😂

I can just foresee a very “feast or famine” sort of season with Lukaku in our team. He’s the sort of striker who will have long spells where he won’t score. He’ll be a real weapon when we launch our lightning counter attacks but could be a huge liability when we play against teams that sit deep and clog all the space around the box. I would wait and either try for Haaland next summer or see if some other young striker emerges or develops further. Like perhaps Vlahovic explodes and is ready for the step up.

Fans of United, Real Madrid, and PSG will be celebrating if we sign Lukaku instead of Haaland.

It would be completely nuts if we’re willing to go over 100m for Lukaku but not for Haaland unless the latter has made it clear he doesn’t fancy a move now and wants to assess his many options next summer.

Look where all those massive upgrades are, though. At keeper, defense, and a better Mount. As we saw once TT took over, that resulted in a much, much better defensive record. We will likely have an excellent defense and midfield once again this coming season. But if it’s still a massive struggle and slog to score even 1 goal in most matches we’re going to once again have to fight and scrap just to finish 4th.