The Belgian Beast - The Romelu Lukaku Thread

Discussion in 'Manchester United' started by Sofabloke, Jul 6, 2017.

  1. Ashur

    Ashur Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    May 31, 2015
    Riding off into the sunset
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  2. Ruud v.Nistelrooy 10

    Staff Member

    Jamaica
    Jun 4, 2006
    Antilla
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Jamaica
    http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...gned-Romelu-Lukaku-for-Manchester-United.aspx

    just an excerpt above. more explanation inside
     
  3. gatekeeper2

    gatekeeper2 Member+

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Good stuff, Ruud.

    Job #1 this season is to beat the fukking bus parking, bottom half clubs who scraped draws off us last season. Romelu won't be needed for buildup play against the Burnleys and Bournemouths. He'll be needed for finishing. The bet is that Romelu will provide the finishing we lacked at times last season.

    Opponents who play more expansive -- you might even say proper -- football, such as Chelsea and City will be an interesting challenge for Romelu. As he drops back into his own half while we're defending how will we acquit himself in the counter and in buildup play? We shall see.
     
  4. Teso Dos Bichos

    Teso Dos Bichos Red Card

    Sep 2, 2004
    Purged by RvN
    The latter would be no different to his current use for Everton and I doubt he would drop back as deep instead of being available around the halfway line as a target or outlet with balls played in behind.
     
    Gilma1990 repped this.
  5. Ashur

    Ashur Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    May 31, 2015
    Riding off into the sunset
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  6. J'can

    J'can Member+

    Jul 3, 2007
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Read and listened to the last couple posts. JM talks about not participating in the buildup play. This is fine unless JM has the team sitting so deep to the point where the outside players are pulled back to look like fullbacks. We need not only a change in game plan but additional personnel. we need to generate goals from our system instead of relying on players to conjure up goals on their own.

    As I type this I wonder how much set piece goals will play into our season. while we have some sizable targets, I wonder who is going to deliver the FK or CK......
     
  7. MizzouMUFC

    MizzouMUFC Member+

    Apr 10, 2010
    Places
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    It's hard to say who will take set peices. If Blind starts at LB I imagine it will be him or Mata when he plays. But of our projected starters, I would have Herrera taking non direct FKs, Pogba taking direct FKs, and Martial or Miki taking corners.
     
  8. J'can

    J'can Member+

    Jul 3, 2007
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Herrera might be right...... so is Pogs, but I cant say that any of the others are nailed on starters.. seems like a by committee to me.

    btw, can Lukaku go direct on FK (that favors left footers)?

    I am falling into the trap of thinking of him in Drogba terms but Drogs developed a nice FK later on in his career, enough to be taken seriously....
     
  9. MizzouMUFC

    MizzouMUFC Member+

    Apr 10, 2010
    Places
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    I know he's scored a few but I would think he's behind Pogba and Mata for sure. Rashford has also shown he has a decent freekick so who knows.
     
  10. Naboomagnoli

    Naboomagnoli Member+

    May 31, 2007
    By and large it doesn't really matter who takes corners.

    Any edge we get on attacking or defending set pieces will obviously help but if we wanted to score more corners then signing a corner taker would be a much, much higher priority than it seems to have been. Perisic would be our only conventional winger who could cross a ball from the byline, but we could have gone for plenty of other options who play RW rather than a head-down kick and run type who would play in place of an inside forward.

    It'd be mind boggling if we were buying for size so we could score more headers off set pieces, given how little return you generally get for them. It's far more likely that we're looking to be physically imposing, to bully sides and win more aerial contests when the ball is live.
     
  11. United 16

    United 16 Member+

    Manchester United
    Mar 25, 2016
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
     
  12. Naboomagnoli

    Naboomagnoli Member+

    May 31, 2007
    Thank god we put a Fails To Score In Insignificant Friendly clause in our deal with Everton.
     
    Gilma1990, cr7torossi, johno and 2 others repped this.
  13. johno

    johno Member+

    Jul 15, 2003
    in the wind
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Thought his movement was encouraging. Loads of opportunities for Martial running off him.
     
  14. Naboomagnoli

    Naboomagnoli Member+

    May 31, 2007
    I still find his ball control problematic. Going from some of the one touch stuff we saw in the first half, and the natural technique of Mkhi and Martial, to seeing how the ball ricochets from one shinbone to the other on Lukaku, it's awkward to take in. Even his pass across the D into the path of Mkhi (IIRC), a simple 10 yard pass 90 degrees to his right, bobbled like a ************************.

    His runs were definitely a positive. Between this and the 3 at the back experiment with Mkhi as an 8, it'll be interesting to see how we fare against opponents who aren't shit. Right now it's all just a runaround.
     
  15. United 16

    United 16 Member+

    Manchester United
    Mar 25, 2016
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
  16. Ashur

    Ashur Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    May 31, 2015
    Riding off into the sunset
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  17. Karloski

    Karloski Member+

    Oct 26, 2006
    England
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Yeah, he obviously has other attributes that can help us...but cushioning\controlling a pass just seems such a basic skill to me. I really struggle to understand how simple balls can bounce off players at this level. Unfortunately, if he hasn't learned how to do it by now...he never will.
     
    benni... repped this.
  18. Naboomagnoli

    Naboomagnoli Member+

    May 31, 2007
    I think he can definitely improve his thought process around it. You can see that he regularly tries to control the ball in a certain way, where somebody is right up his arse and he's trying to just hold them off, but ultimately gets dispossessed by a leg coming round him. He can definitely improve how he does that, hopefully we can teach him how to use his physicality whilst taking better steps to protect the ball.

    The sloppiness can be improved with training. He'll never be Berba, he'll always look clumsy with his first touch and it'll always be his weakness. But I think he can get better, now that he's at a club that won't look to hoof it to him as an out ball every time. You do see him take perfectly fine touches too, and once he has the ball under control he's mostly fine.

    More than his first touch, we need him to sort out his one touch layoffs. We need to put him through some serious drills to get that tightened up. It's worse for us if he screws up a 10 yard layoff than a basic control because the ball is moving the wrong way, usually behind his intended target for an opponent to run on to.
     
  19. Ruud v.Nistelrooy 10

    Staff Member

    Jamaica
    Jun 4, 2006
    Antilla
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Jamaica
  20. gatekeeper2

    gatekeeper2 Member+

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Still very early days to pass judgment on how well Lukaku will fit in. There are strikers with a better first touch -- Griezmann obviously not being one of them -- but few strikers on the planet who have the brute strength of the Belgium.

    We've talked about this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Most opponents we'll face, even in the Champions League, will park the bus on us. Lukaku will be camped at the point while we poke for holes for scoring chances. Romelu can overpower defenders and score on half chances. He wasn't anyone's first pick for the job, but he's more than adequate for the task at hand. But no, we shouldn't expect him to ever turn into a silky striker.
     
  21. Ashur

    Ashur Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    May 31, 2015
    Riding off into the sunset
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  22. J'can

    J'can Member+

    Jul 3, 2007
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    In watching the 30 for 30 Lakers and Celtics there was a part where someone joined the Lakers and they were running a fast break with magic leading. The player was just running to keep up without actually paying attention to the ball. The pass got him in the head. Magic told him he has to learn to expect those passes. Apparently the player learned even though he was never a part of a team where this was the expectation.

    Here is to hoping Lukaku can too.

    Of course unless we play kick and run......
     
  23. gatekeeper2

    gatekeeper2 Member+

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    A useful comparison. I'm confident Lukaku will adapt to the expectations.
     
  24. Ashur

    Ashur Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    May 31, 2015
    Riding off into the sunset
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  25. Ashur

    Ashur Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    May 31, 2015
    Riding off into the sunset
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

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