Romelu Lukaku

[CafeCordoba]

Jesus fuck, not again.

brehme my friend, a goal that gives a team a 2 goal cushion is always important. There's nothing lenient about giving Lukaku credit for that. There's no such thing as a win is achieved when we only lead by a single goal until the referee blows the final whistle. It is definitely not overkill as you put it. I trust that you are a veteran supporter of this team. You know that we are prone to conceding those retarded late equalizers regardless of the opponents, including these 'Serie B' teams as you put it? Conceding late silly ass equalizers is in our DNA, dating back to Mancini's very first season with us in 2004/2005.

Yeah, 4-2 goal in that match was not meaningless goal. As was not 3-1 goal against Borussia M in CL (they scored 3-2 eventually and almost 3-3).

And btw, he will probably miss at least the Sampdoria game.

[brehme1989]

No one argued it was meaningless. The contrary was argued. Do people even read what they are replying to?

[koba]

The report claims the problem in the right thigh doesn’t seem serious, but Lukaku should sit out against Sampdoria.

[sdvroot]

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Most goals in the first 50 Serie A games:
Cristiano Ronaldo - 40
R9 Ronaldo - 38
Shevchenko - 37
Milito - 37
Montella - 36
Lukaku - 35

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[Cauet]

Imagine paying a record fee for a striker who goes limp when we play a decent team

[Pajo]

Awful today imo.

[thatdude]

I don’t think he was awful but after we took the lead I don’t think he won another 50/50 ball

[RickyMaravilla'sRightFoot]

Lukaku wasn't the problem today. He had a few key moments-- that play to set up the tap in for Lautaro was class. And that header which was saved by Lopez in the first half was quite difficult; he actually did well to generate that much power on it.

I've been pretty satisfied with his build up play lately.

[Hasan]

Awful today imo.

Just by creating that chance for Lautaro he deserves 7/10 rating.

[brakbrak]

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comm...m_source=share

[Nyall]

Imagine paying a record fee for a striker who goes limp when we play a decent team

To be fair, we didn't create any tap ins for him to score.

[bubba zanetti]

One of the greatest strikers of all time against small teams.

[BasedGodPunk]

I like Lukaku and have defended him quite a bit, but his inability to score against good teams is extremely concerning. Especially since it takes Lautaro ten great chances to score once. Can't rely on wingbacks and defenders to score the goals vs big teams. Rom has no excuse for his failures vs big clubs.

[CafeCordoba]

Lukaku wasn't the problem today. He had a few key moments-- that play to set up the tap in for Lautaro was class. And that header which was saved by Lopez in the first half was quite difficult; he actually did well to generate that much power on it.

I've been pretty satisfied with his build up play lately.

Almost. He wasn't the problem but as usual, he also wasn't the solution either, when we played a (relatively) big match. That play in Lautaro chance was vintage Lukaku for sure. But other than that, he wasn't anyway to do the right moves. The header which Lopez saved was directed too center, obviously. His one layup was just bad. His target game is okay-ish, but like thatdude said when we took the lead, Lukaku was just useless. Doesn't press at all and can't keep the ball.

[uny_arturo]

Wouldn’t call him a flop against big teams. Lukaku has many hats to wear in the team. He needs to be the striker and a hold-up player 99% of the time. Against big teams they tend to have a more disciplined approach to contain Lukaku. On the other end, weak teams will just send their biggest guy to mark Lukaku. On most occasions Lukaku will get lucky and score. This is where the illusion of “Lukaku doesn’t play well against big teams come from”.

So this is on Conte. Having Lukaku to draw a big team’s defence around him isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Conte needs to develope a “Lautaro+1” game plan fast. As in, when Lukaku has been tactically contained, how else would we build up to the final third? Who should be instructed to shoot more in those games? Perhaps Brozo and Barella? We can’t rely on Hakimi all the time

[brakbrak]

Wouldn’t call him a flop against big teams. Lukaku has many hats to wear in the team. He needs to be the striker and a hold-up player 99% of the time. Against big teams they tend to have a more disciplined approach to contain Lukaku. On the other end, weak teams will just send their biggest guy to mark Lukaku. On most occasions Lukaku will get lucky and score. This is where the illusion of “Lukaku doesn’t play well against big teams come from”.

So this is on Conte. Having Lukaku to draw a big team’s defence around him isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Conte needs to develope a “Lautaro+1” game plan fast. As in, when Lukaku has been tactically contained, how else would we build up to the final third? Who should be instructed to shoot more in those games? Perhaps Brozo and Barella? We can’t rely on Hakimi all the time

His track record against big teams have been abysmal even before Inter days so lets not blame Conte.

[CafeCordoba]

Yeah. I would say Conte has pulled the best out of Lukaku and this is what he is.

[Javier'sSon]

So how come he underperforms against the big teams? Easier for better and more physical defenders (and managers) to mark him out of a game because of his skill-set (or lack of)? Or is it mental? Probably more of the former and a bit of the latter.

[brehme1989]

It's a combination of apparent mental deficiencies and his trademark of being a volume striker.

Harry Kane, who is overall a better player, has the same issues. He's also a volume player, but because he can also dish a cross or pass he doesn't feel the same heat.

Lukaku is a player who needs too many chances to score and many times he also needs luck because he hits centrally all the time. Under the defenders' legs, so if that doesn't work out, it won't even see the target. If he's lucky, it will take a goalward deflection which will make it harder for the keeper to stop. If he succeeds with the shot, it usually will go in as it makes a curve and keepers cannot react to it clearly due to lack of vision. If he's one on one, he almost always hits the keeper unless he had too much space and the gk makes the decision before him, which leaves an open net. This is also why PKs look easier for him. He knows how to wait for the gk to make a misstep and take advantage. In an open play situation it feels like he's afraid that someone will be close to him and just tends to fuck it up. Lautaro also suffers from this and tries to take a tough shot too soon.
If you check most of his goals in the box, they came this way.

Now, if Lukaku manages to score early on, his mental issues may go away during the game. We've seen that vs Leverkusen. Maybe Napoli awat too when Koulibaly wasn't playing. But that was it.


His main limitation is that he cannot make himself available in favorable positions, nor does he know how to evade tough defending. He needs the ball at his feet even if he's such a beast when running and unapproachable really if he puts the effort. The way he wants the ball played, he's inviting these better structured teams to eliminate him.

The best way to make full use of him in bigger games is if we have more attacking options. You need to have Lautaro, Alexis, Eriksen and Sensi on, along with at least Hakimi, and ensure that Lukaku doesn't demand the ball all the time but plays out wide to so that he attracts one defender away from their goal and makes it easier to attack from the weak side. But unfortunately as it happens with all players who thrive on the weak side, it's a "charlatan effect". It's overrated land. Guys like Sterling, Coman, Sancho, Bailey (for those who have forgotten, he was supposed to be world class as well), Carrasco etc. Obviously Lukaku is on a higher level than these guys, but unfortunately he's best used on a similar style against better teams. Which is just evidence that he's not a big time player, but obviously he has the characteristics to play for a successful team. But you cannot rely on him, he needs to have teammates to raise the level of the team. And unfortunately under Conte we have this absurd reliance on Lukaku that leads to nowhere. And it makes Lukaku look lesser when shit matters.

[dax21]

Great post. I agree, Lukaku should be used as a decoy instead of a focal point of attack in big games against disciplined defenders. Or he shouldn't be used at all.

I can't explain how or why Conte doesn't see that. I mean sure, lately we had other players scoring a few goals, notably Skriniar and Hakimi, but those weren't exactly byproducts of Conte's tactics - corners and Hakimi solo magic have nothing to do with that.