Lukaku is not on his way to Sarajevo with the rest of the team and will not be playing vs Bosnia, in order to give his ankle more time to heal. Martinez is still hopeful he might be able to play in their final game.
Can Lukaku be United's next big game player? www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11071066/can-romelu-lukaku-be-manchester-united8217s-big-game-player-now-too
I don't think we can rely too heavily on his stats for Everton against "big opponents" to come to any kind of conclusion. What we know is that he's adjusted brilliantly to life under the hot lights at Old Trafford, though undeniably against weak opponents. Liverpool will be his first test against a massive club. We'll see how it goes but even if he doesn't pass the test with flying colors we should keep in mind that it's only his first test. I hope the British media -- yes, wishful thinking -- will give cut him a little bit of slack if he doesn't score against Liverpool. I certainly don't expect to maintain a one goal/per game scoring rate through the end of the season.
Lukaku is on the bench today for Belgium vs Cyprus. Not that he was crucially needed, even if Martinez is looking for the win. It's Cyprus. He'll probably make an appearance in the second half, which will be perfectly fine.
Lukaku is not phased about criticism on his record vs top 6 clubs. www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11083349/romelu-lukaku-brushes-off-criticism-of-record-against-big-six Really no reason for him (or anyone else) to be worried about this... yet at least. And certainly not on the back of his performance vs Pool, in a game where he really was not placed in an optimal position to shine and only had one chance on the day. We can revisit that issue a few months down the line, but I'm still extremely confident he will keep on rising to the level he has since he joined the club, for the most part. And still confident he will come through in big games for United and will keep improving as a striker and football player in general.
Mindless media chatter, nothing more. Lukaku is a very good striker who has toiled for smaller clubs until now and has yet to hit his peak.
Lukaku will not face further action from the FA for his "stamp" on Lovren. www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11083872/romelu-lukaku-will-not-face-further-fa-action-over-alleged-stamp-on-dejan-lovren-during-liverpool-man-utd Pity, since that play acting display from Lovren was so convincing...
Romelu Lukaku's mum has revealed that she used to take her son's birth certificate to football matches to prove his age. 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/aJRkls6vTf— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) October 28, 2017
José Mourinho says Romelu Lukaku is ‘untouchable’ at Manchester United https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/30/jose-mourinho-romelu-lukaku-manchester-united
I don't like to hear/read from a manager that a certain player is "untouchable" or "undroppable" and the like. No player should ever be "untouchable" or beyond being held accountable for his play. Van Gaal deemed Rooney "undroppable", with disastrous consequences. No doubt Mourinho has to defend his players in public and I don't actually quarrel with his underlying analysis that Lukaku is still playing well, despite being on a goal drought. He provided a fantastic assist to Rashford and a great flick on header for Martial, but apart from those two key assists his play has, in truth, been a bit lacking in spark. And his holdup play is alarmingly dreadful and arguably deteriorating, definitely in need of additional work in training. Lukaku is not a major worry. But he does need a rest and tomorrow, Tuesday against Benfica, would be a sensational time for Romelu to get the break he needs before he certainly will be called to start against Chelsea, absolutely appropriately so. I understand a win tomorrow locks up top spot in our group but it's not as though Martial and Rashford are poor Plan Bs for the Belgian. Beating Chelsea, which we have a much better chance of accomplishing with a rested Romelu than with a tired Romelu, is important for all the obvious reasons. But it's likely that Jose will start Lukaku both against Benfica and Chelsea, perhaps with the expectation that he'll get the rest that he clearly needs once Ibra returns in what appears now to be 3-4 weeks.
******** the media. It’s not been a problem. Muppets coming out saying he should have overruled Mourinho and taken the pen would have just made up rumours of a falling out between Mou and Lukaku if he’d disobeyed orders. As we’d hoped from our life after Ibra, Lukaku is still contributing to the team by being far more mobile and direct. Martial and Rashford are definitely benefiting from the fact that, if they run forward at pace, there will be an option in the box drawing attention away, rather than some 30 yards out ambling towards goal. If we want him to score then we need to give him better service. That means our right wing and our 10 need to be more productive, rather than forcing Lukaku wide right to try and cut in from the left because we’ve got zip out there.
We either need to have an elite striker like RVN or RVP who will always be contributing in some way or need to have a good front line who will be sharing the workload as our current situation. Last year we put everything one guy and went bust.
We had RVP for 1 year where he was scoring for fun, and the following year it all dried up. There’s more to it than just signing a world class striker and him just conjuring goals from thin air. If we create chances for Lukaku he will score. That’s what’s changed - we’ve stopped creating the chances for him. We shouldn’t be looking to penalties to cover that up.
Our service to him has not been up to par. Lukaku in the past few games has had one chance per game, perhaps 2 max. Granted he did not convert, but with that amount of chances, he'll be hard pressed to score anyhow. Think at this point it is pretty evident that Lukaku is perhaps the biggest victim of Pogba's absence, as it can't be coincidence that his production dipped, since he went down and our production from the 10 spot and RW has just been poor. A striker, especially one like Lukaku, lives and dies on the support/service he gets and right now it's not happening. Another reason it will not surprise me to see Lukaku and Zlatan partnering up, more often than not upon his return, especially if Miki continues to be poor.
A truly great striker creates his own chances. Lukaku needs to go beyond just feeding off that which has been served to him and score goals of his own creation. He can and he will.
A great guy creates his own chances when he has a support cast to put him in a position to create for himself, not when the ball dumped long forward with four defenders around him and maybe you'll see the left wing assisting.
We need create more for Lukaku but he had a 1v1 and a header from 8 yards out. He should be scoring both those chances but 1 goal is minimum. No surprise though that his form has dipped in Pogba's absence. We aren't creating as many chances and specifically the type of chances that Lukaku thrives on... most of our chances now are snap shots or crosses. We aren't getting any push through the middle and our counters haven't been productive. 1 thing we don't credit Lukaku with... his turning with the ball. A lot of situations we criticize his inability to hold the ball. However he is frequently trying to take a touch into space to continue or properly launch a counter. If you look at Ransford's penalty, that chance never materializes without Lukaku playing that into space early. If he just holds it up or doesn't at least try to turn the corner with his first touch, Rashford has to break his run or run offside.
Lukaku missed two clearcut chances in recent matches. It happens, sure, but let's be careful not excuse his dip in form on Pogba's absence.
Would Lukaku still be untouchable to Jose if Zlatan was fit? www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11110777/would-romelu-lukaku-be-untouchable-at-man-utd-if-zlatan-ibrahimovic-was-fit
Of course not. Lukaku can't play 60 games in a single season, anyway. The better question is whether Ibra will work himself back into being a regular starter when he is fit. I wouldn't bet against it. This whole debate is ridiculous. Lukaku is a fantastic young striker who's simply hit a dry patch due mostly to the lack of rest. There's no crisis, no reason for panic and no reason for having a go at Mourinho.
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ics-in-exclusive-interview-with-thierry-henry i like the way he worded his answer
Factors behind Lukaku's poor form/goal drought. www.bleacherreport.com/articles/2742766-5-factors-affecting-romelu-lukakus-current-barren-spell-for-man-united
A solid piece of analysis dissecting a drop of form by Lukaku the suggestion of which was laughed at here not long ago. I'll have to keep the Churchill quote on statistics in my back pocket. The answer is pretty simple: Lukaku needs a break, which I assume he's enjoying right now while the NT plays two friendlies against Mexico and Japan. Mourinho would have done Lukaku and the club a favor for the Chelsea match by resting him against Benfica, bringing him on in the second half if we were ever in a pinch. He looked heavy-legged and out of ideas at the bridge -- maybe not terrible, but certainly a nonfactor with and without the ball. The absence of Pogba is a contributing factor but a very limited one in explaining why Lukaku missed several clear-cut chances. Hopefully, the international break will do him wonders and he comes back ready for duty. Best bet is that he'll be back on a goal scoring streak when he reports for duty.