Romelu Lukaku

[MoroccanBlue 5,378]

1 hour ago, Magic Lamps said:

i would not say he is specific for a system but is clearly better in a counter attacking system than in a possession based one. His limitedness is exactly why I did not want him for the given price . 

Which boils down to two concerning things. 

1. 80% of the time, we are a possession based team. Meaning we won't play to his strengths. 

2. 20% of the time, we are a counter attacking team. But where this system is successful is the build up and off the ball movement of our attackers, something he doesn't offer. 

 

 

[Warning_Hazard 156]

38 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I always worry when the service excuse starts to be made.

Yeah, The bums are getting squeeky and the horse is starting to bolt!

By the hairy balls on the cracken he better show up in the next few games!

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

11 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Which boils down to two concerning things. 

1. 80% of the time, we are a possession based team. Meaning we won't play to his strengths. 

2. 20% of the time, we are a counter attacking team. But where this system is successful is the build up and off the ball movement of our attackers, something he doesn't offer. 

 

 

You are right. We will still create situations where he can be useful but I doubt he will ever play to his full potential for us unless we tinker the system around him. A system which has won us the CL. But it is not all doom and gloom. In games were we have been exepcted to have the majority of the ball such as Arsenal and Aston Villa he made an immediate impact whenever we managed to move the ball quickly. We can still get better at these situation, so I don't think he will go to waste completely. At Everton and at Inter, Lukaku got better after the first season, had more of an effect on the team, cos of adaption and the teams learning to play to his strengths better. So some signs for hope...

[laura90 556]

15 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

You are right. We will still create situations where he can be useful but I doubt he will ever play to his full potential for us unless we tinker the system around him. A system which has won us the CL. But it is not all doom and gloom. In games were we have been exepcted to have the majority of the ball such as Arsenal and Aston Villa he made an immediate impact whenever we managed to move the ball quickly. We can still get better at these situation, so I don't think he will go to waste completely. At Everton and at Inter, Lukaku got better after the first season, had more of an effect on the team, cos of adaption and the teams learning to play to his strengths better. So some signs for hope...

He got better in the second season, but they were more than happy to sell him right after. Check out Inter forums. Some of them call this transfer the best sell ever. In the second season, it is very visible what he offers to the team and what he is costing the team. The second prevails and that's the reason why 300+ millions were spent on his transfers alone.

The most absurd transfer ever. I know he will score but we will still end up third/ fourth on the table, where we would be without him.

And potential clashes with coach or the players, I don't even want to go there. Pointless transfer. 

Edited October 8, 2021 by laura90

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

11 minutes ago, laura90 said:

He got better in the second season, but they were more than happy to sell him right after. Check out Inter forums. Some of them call this transfer the best sell ever. In the second season, it is very visible what he offers to the team and what he is costing the team. The second prevails and that's the reason why 300+ millions were spent on his transfers alone.

The most absurd transfer ever. I know he will score but we will still end up third/ fourth on the table, where we would be without him.

And potential clashes with coach or the players, I don't even want to go there. Pointless transfer. 

It was an amazing deal for inter. 100m pounds for a limited 28 y.o. striker.... But i guess they need it lol

I did not agree with the transfer either but now he is here we can only support him and hope that he proves us wrong. In the right situation he can still be a decent option. We would possibly not have won the games vs Villa and St.P without him. I just hope TT has the balls to drop Rom for games where he really is not helpful.

[Fulham Broadway 17,306]

Hes not going to be the saviour, score every game, his limitations are obvious. He will score goals though, just as he will not meet the exacting standards people demand here, and will doubtless get slagged off like every other player has been on TC. 

That doesnt matter, as long as he gets vocal support from attending fans, which unless he royally fucks up is a certainty. Carefree

[ZAPHOD2319 4,803]

He was the one of the best 9 options available. I think having him makes Tuchel really put some attention on how to make it work, which keeps him focused on us scoring. Had we gone with the same players from last year, Tuchel's solution may have been for us to play even more defensively. I hope Tuchel can play to his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. The thing that does get to me a little is his total lack of pressing. I don't know if he thinks he is doing it and just incapable, or if he is just not giving the effort? In the end he is our 9 and we do not have a second option, unless Werner starts ripping the back of the net game after game. 

I do believe we can grind it out and stay at the top contending for the title. We have great depth and a manager who is willing to trust that depth and rotate.

[Stats 7,142]

16 hours ago, laura90 said:

He got better in the second season, but they were more than happy to sell him right after. Check out Inter forums. Some of them call this transfer the best sell ever. In the second season, it is very visible what he offers to the team and what he is costing the team. The second prevails and that's the reason why 300+ millions were spent on his transfers alone.

The most absurd transfer ever. I know he will score but we will still end up third/ fourth on the table, where we would be without him.

And potential clashes with coach or the players, I don't even want to go there. Pointless transfer. 

That is an absurd comment. Come on Laura, real exaggeration. Yes, he is limited in aspects but he is also a big plus as well. He will score goals and when we create more chances, IJ am sure he will be scoring a lot more. Knee-jerk reactions is so funny because few weeks time, when he is scoring again, people will change their tune.

There is a long way to go but we are top right now whilst already visiting Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and playing City at home and have had the most difficult fixtures out of our rivals, along with City. All games where our rivals can drop points and we are in a good position. I think we would most likely finish 3rd/4th without Lukaku but with him in now, we will be able to finish off most teams we struggled to break down last season. I think it will be between us and City come end of season and I think the difference maybe that we have a natural no.9 and they don't. Time will tell.

[Jase 43,479]

18 minutes ago, Stats said:

I think it will be between us and City come end of season and I think the difference maybe that we have a natural no.9 and they don't. Time will tell.

Why is having a #9 seen as the be-all-and-end-all?

City didn't have a #9 last season and they still coasted to the league title. Liverpool, albeit they have Salah and Mane, don't play with a #9 and yet they have been consistent in the league in recent seasons barring the last one. 

[Jase 43,479]

17 hours ago, Tomo said:

I always worry when the service excuse starts to be made.

Kinda amusing to see the narrative has changed from "we keep missing chances" to "we don't create enough chances". 

[Stats 7,142]

1 minute ago, Jase said:

Why is having a #9 seen as the be-all-and-end-all?

City didn't have a #9 last season and they still coasted to the league title. Liverpool, albeit they have Salah and Mane, don't play with a #9 and yet they have been consistent in the league in recent seasons barring the last one. 

City and Liverpool can get away with it because in City's case they have took much quality over the team and on their day, probably the best footballing side in Europe. Liverpool on otherhand have natural goalscorers in Salah and Mane (despite him being a bit off this season). In our case we have a lot of quality, but not enough consistent goalscorers hence the stats for our outfield players being so low last season, however now having Lukaku for me provides City with their biggest threat. We will win more games than we dropped points last season and can actually challenge them. While other teams can get off playing with a no.9, we have always provided the biggest league challenge or won the league when we have a natural no.9.

[Jase 43,479]

3 minutes ago, Stats said:

City and Liverpool can get away with it because in City's case they have took much quality over the team and on their day, probably the best footballing side in Europe. Liverpool on otherhand have natural goalscorers in Salah and Mane (despite him being a bit off this season). In our case we have a lot of quality, but not enough consistent goalscorers hence the stats for our outfield players being so low last season, however now having Lukaku for me provides City with their biggest threat. We will win more games than we dropped points last season and can actually challenge them. While other teams can get off playing with a no.9, we have always provided the biggest league challenge or won the league when we have a natural no.9.

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

And do you think only Lukaku's goals will be enough to have us challenge for the league title? Because even when we have won the league with a #9, that #9 isn't the only goalscorer in the team. 

And what if Lukaku's goals only come against the smaller teams and not the big ones, thus maybe causing us to lose the head-to-head games and points? 

[Stats 7,142]

1 minute ago, Jase said:

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

And do you think only Lukaku's goals will be enough to have us challenge for the league title? Because even when we have won the league with a #9, that #9 isn't the only goalscorer in the team. 

And what if Lukaku's goals only come against the smaller teams and not the big ones, thus maybe causing us to lose the head-to-head games and points? 

I generally think it will. We have already beaten Arsenal, Spurs away from home convincingly. Liverpool got a point away and all the other 'smaller' teams we have beaten by a good margin also. Villa are a good outfit and despite scoreline flattering us we beat them 3-0. Last season we would struggle in those games to finish teams off. In our next few fixtures coming up, we can generate a good advantage if we beat them and I would bank on Lukaku scoring in majority of them. I think the smaller games this season, may well be defining factor in us winning league this season. I still expect Liverpool to drop points against bigger teams. In United's case they have dropped points against smaller teams and have not played any of the so called 'top teams' so far.

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Stats said:

I generally think it will. We have already beaten Arsenal, Spurs away from home convincingly. Liverpool got a point away and all the other 'smaller' teams we have beaten by a good margin also. Villa are a good outfit and despite scoreline flattering us we beat them 3-0. Last season we would struggle in those games to finish teams off. In our next few fixtures coming up, we can generate a good advantage if we beat them and I would bank on Lukaku scoring in majority of them. I think the smaller games this season, may well be defining factor in us winning league this season. I still expect Liverpool to drop points against bigger teams. In United's case they have dropped points against smaller teams and have not played any of the so called 'top teams' so far.

Yes, we have won those games but the issue is the nature of our attacking performances. Notice how the narrative has seemingly shifted from "we keep missing chances" to "we don't create enough chances"?

Against Villa, we won because of Lukaku's finishing and Kovacic pouncing on an error. Against Spurs, it took a corner and a shot from distance to break Spurs down. 

Lukaku or not, such dodgy attacking performances are gonna catch up with us - as seen against City and Juventus - if they don't improve. 

[Stats 7,142]

16 minutes ago, Jase said:

Yes, we have won those games but the issue is the nature of our attacking performances. Notice how the narrative has seemingly shifted from "we keep missing chances" to "we don't create enough chances"?

Against Villa, we won because of Lukaku's finishing and Kovacic pouncing on an error. Against Spurs, it took a corner and a shot from distance to break Spurs down. 

Lukaku or not, such dodgy attacking performances are gonna catch up with us - as seen against City and Juventus - if they don't improve. 

Either way though, we have a focal point and that for me makes a big difference.

You may see it as the attacking performances will catch up with us. I see it as hopefully soon, they will click into gear.

City we were just way too defensive. I mean, honestly despite his flaws would I be genuinely confident of a title challenge without Lukaku? No. Do I think now we have him, we have a genuine chance of winning the league? Yes. I do.