Romelu Lukaku

[uny_arturo]

So anyone still gonna say he's a shit player and we are better off without Lukaku?

 

[brehme1989]

Didn't play, scored 2 goals again. Be it Parma or Real Madrid, we average over 2 goals a game without Lukaku on the pitch. Maybe that provides some context as to why he scores a lot as well while as a team we average roughly the same amount of goals with him on. Will leave that statistic for another day though, my guess would be that we have 2.5 goals with Lukaku on and something like 2.2 without him.

 

[brakbrak]

So anyone still gonna say he's a shit player and we are better off without Lukaku?

Why would we be better off with our most expensive player? But to day that we are too dependent on him is bullshit, we pretty much have been getting the same results and goals with or without him as brehme mentioned above.

 

[Irequis]

The reason we still managed to score 2 goals against Madrid was because Lautaro showed up for the match. If he played like he did against Parma and Genoa, you bet we wouldn't even touch their penalty box once. And how I wish if he keeps playing in this form instead of disappearing in the match. We would not spam ball to Lukaku if Lautaro can constantly make himself available for passes. As much as I hate Lukaku's clumsy post-up play, it is still the approach with the most consistent output that we have.

 

[brehme1989]

The reason we still managed to score 2 goals against Madrid was because Lautaro showed up for the match. If he played like he did against Parma and Genoa, you bet we wouldn't even touch their penalty box once. And how I wish if he keeps playing in this form instead of disappearing in the match. We would not spam ball to Lukaku if Lautaro can constantly make himself available for passes. As much as I hate Lukaku's clumsy post-up play, it is still the approach with the most consistent output that we have.

Maybe Lautaro's style does not fit this nonsensical play of hoofing it to Lukaku and expect him to just run on the far side occupying defenses as some useless decoy?

Lautaro's best matches have come from games with Lukaku where we played on the counter (where Lukaku was mostly the decoy striker) or whenever he played with Sanchez. And even Perisic now.

If Lautaro was our focal point up front, you wouldn't see anyone complaining about how ridiculous and frustrating Lukaku could get and no one would say that Lautaro is in shit form and stuff like that. Both would be in a much better situation. Lukaku would thrive with his acceleration and strength as someone on the weak side of the ball, but he lacks the awareness to move without the ball and Conte just wants to use him to play with his back for some reason.

 

[ADRossi]

Maybe Lautaro's style does not fit this nonsensical play of hoofing it to Lukaku and expect him to just run on the far side occupying defenses as some useless decoy?

Lautaro's best matches have come from games with Lukaku where we played on the counter (where Lukaku was mostly the decoy striker) or whenever he played with Sanchez. And even Perisic now.

If Lautaro was our focal point up front, you wouldn't see anyone complaining about how ridiculous and frustrating Lukaku could get and no one would say that Lautaro is in shit form and stuff like that. Both would be in a much better situation. Lukaku would thrive with his acceleration and strength as someone on the weak side of the ball, but he lacks the awareness to move without the ball and Conte just wants to use him to play with his back for some reason.

You can argue (which you might be; I only skim your essays) that Conte isn't even using Lukaku in a way that maximizes his abilities. Lukaku can be extremely dangerous when he's running with the ball. He demonstrated that earlier this year with that sweet goal where he ran through the final third before sending home a near-post bullet. Insisting on having him stand with his back to goal and laying off passes to Hakimi and Barella reduces the number of opportunities during the match where Lukaku can showcase his dribbling and speed. Instead, we're depending on his mediocre first touch and average passing. The end result of these moves is often Hakimi, alone, in the box. Who is this helping?

I'm fully on the 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 bandwagon, as I have been since we signed Eriksen. Giving Martinez and Lukaku proper a playmaker with a creative license to attack opponents' back line with through balls and balls over the top of defenses would showcase both of their strengths.

 

[brehme1989]

The whole idea of Lukaku with his back is that he lays the ball off and instantly receives it, leaving behind his marker.

But the lay offs are usually disastrous, and when not, there is a whole new line of defense even if the main marker is on him further up so it becomes futile.

The reasoning is there and it is to help Lukaku have more and better chances running towards a defense. But the execution is terrible.

I've lost count of how many times we see this over 90+ minutes, but eventually it's going to be achieved and Lukaku may get on the score line. And people will praise him and Conte for this. Happens almost every time, at least last season when this started. Now more people seem to notice that this isn't really helping the team other than Lukaku stat padding, which usually doesn't even give us points as the match is already settled. This only works when a defense is caught off guard or is complacent. When the game is already 3-0 up, I can assure you that most defenses will be complacent.

 

[IM21]

called up for the national team. Why the fuck are we letting him go?

 

[Sawyer]

I am hoping he comes on as a sub, if he's back to fitness it will be good for him to get a few minutes in and then be ready for us, if he is fit enough to play 60 mins + for the national team then so be it, he will be more prepared for us when we return, all pending Atalanta game.

 

[RickyMaravilla'sRightFoot]

Lukaku loves padding his intl stats. No way he does the sensible thing and rests up.

 

[brakbrak]

Lukaku loves padding his intl stats. No way he does the sensible thing and rests up.

Anything to increase his value so we can get lots of money when conte gets the fuck out of here and bring lukaku with him.

 

[Gaindé]

Anything to increase his value so we can get lots of money when conte gets the fuck out of here and bring lukaku with him.

Not saying we should sell but how much would we get for Lukaku? And who would buy him at that price? We're better off keeping him and hoping he keeps scoring like he has been even if Conte goes, because weirdly enough even with his high scoring numbers it doesn't look like the rich clubs like Real, PSG or City are willing to pay big money for him.

When was the last time an Inter player performed this well without at least the journalists sending him in other clubs every other day?

 

[brehme1989]

When was the last time an Inter player performed this well without at least the journalists sending him in other clubs every other day?

Rodrigo Palacio? Relative to situation of course.

 

[Gaindé]

Palacio was very underated, even now there are Inter fans that don't fully recognize him for what he's done but he wasn't well-known outside of Serie A, was he?
Lukaku played mmajor parts at the WC, Euros, in Champions League, is just an overall bigger name and still he doesn't attract that much clubs.

I think it's due to his technical shortcomings but probably also the fact that anyone who wants to fit him basically has to change their whole offensive play .

 

[brakbrak]

Not saying we should sell but how much would we get for Lukaku? And who would buy him at that price? We're better off keeping him and hoping he keeps scoring like he has been even if Conte goes, because weirdly enough even with his high scoring numbers it doesn't look like the rich clubs like Real, PSG or City are willing to pay big money for him.

When was the last time an Inter player performed this well without at least the journalists sending him in other clubs every other day?

Other club will play as much as we demand as long as conte is their manager. Because lets face it, if conte goes this dude will go back to his old style ala man utd where not everything was revolved around him.

 

[FairyTailed]

Read through some of the last pages of comments - and I want to chime in.

A player like Lautaro is what I call a 'complete' striker. By that I'm not referring to their overall level of skill, but at the range of skills they possess and the amount of different tasks they can be ordered with. Lautaro can act like a target man, he can act as the advanced forward, he can make runs, he can connect, he can do it all. But he doesn't excell at anything individually - which is also a reason why if he has a bad game, he disappears for 90 minutes. Lukaku, on the other hand, is very much defined in what he excels at, and what he is poor at. We don't have to go indepth, but we know Lukaku has high pace, insane strength, high jumping reach and is good at finishing and heading. Importantly to add, he also has the right personality for our team, something which is usually overlooked. We also know his weak points: first touch, dribbling, passing to an extent and composure. Yes, I do not think the problem lies in his ability to finish, I think he's a pretty remarkable finisher, but he lacks composure. He's not a finisher like Icardi due to that, but he possesses different qualities.

I think the problem with the discussion on Lukaku's weak points, is how people view football. Not the way in which they view it, is the problem, but it's the direct causation. If you would poll to the crowd what type of football they prefer, tiki-taka or hoofing route one, we all know the outcome. Technical skill is the most (over)appreciated aspect of this game and it's what makes football very enjoyable to watch. Lukaku is limited in some of his technical aspects. We can criticize him, but we have to tell ourselves if there's any merit to it. Lukaku will never be a tiki-taka player, no matter how much better he gets at his technical abilities. He will likely never get his composure to the levels of Icardi, and he'll never come deep to get the ball and dribble like Sánchez.

But there's simply more to football than that. Good luck asking Icardi or Sánchez to use their body weight to fend of opponents or knocking the ball past their opponent at high speed. In fact, in some aspect Lukaku is a unique player. One of a kind. How many players are AND tall AND have high speed AND are strong? Usually this is a question of two out of three. I don't think there is any player currently like this - to that extent of excelling ability in those factors.

I think, despite how much critism he deserves, Conte is the biggest contributor to the Lukaku we know and see today. He is the first one to play him to his absolute strengths, and it shows in what kind of numbers he puts out. We've seen stats posted here of Lukaku's goals/game and seen questions raised around them. No one has ever gone into full analysis, and I think it's good no-one did. Because the outcome would likely be that we cannot deduct a thing. The only thing to keep in mind on the debate whether 'how useful' his goals are, is to judge the team as a team. And not the team as Lukaku. There's always 11 players on the field. If Lukaku scores 2, we concede 3 and lose, next game Lukaku isn't on the field and we win 2-1 - you cannot conclude that we have a similar output without him on the field and he's not helping his tip over the edge. Lukaku is not our primary defender and it'd be highly surprising if he's to blame for any of the 3 goals against. This requires a much deeper analysis than what anyone has tried to cover here. Moreover, Lukaku was also joint 3rd last season in Serie A in terms of key passes (https://imgur.com/a/AZ3AiQY), you know something we'd love to see out of Eriksen.

The question also rises in how much Lukaku is to blame for his 'underperformances' against big teams. The answer is roughly the same. There's 11 players on the pitch. And we know Lukaku's poor technicals will not help against better teams with better defenders. However, his outputs in these games are also directly linked to the team contributions. If Lukaku cannot get himself into the perfect place alone, his team mates should help him right? But they will also struggle more against better teams. People tend to think of Lukaku as a great striker, but not world class. But the question is, does that matter? Lukaku can win you a Champions League, just as likely as he can fail you to win a Scudetto. Why? Simple, because of the players around him. If you use Lukaku as your primary carry and only player, then yes. Expect no major trophies. He is not a perfect player and part of his skillset does not suit every trainer. But if you have a great team around him, he's a striker who is capable of going the extra mile. There are worse strikers who've won major trophies than Lukaku. Team (play) is more important than the player.

With how de Vrij, Handanovic, Lautaro, Kolarov, Perisic, to an extend Hakimi and probably others have been underperforming this season, I see no merit in looking at how Lukaku's incompetencies are potentially holding us back. I think there are currently bigger problems at hand.

 

[brehme1989]

He's actually quite bad at heading, he usually cannot direct it very well and most importantly, he lacks the positional awareness and loses the duel before it even becomes a duel.

About his key passes, it is important to note how initially he avoided to take shots even if he was in shooting range. Maybe it was a matter of confidence, but he simply deferred too much to teammates when in a scoring situation, I can count at least 10 times in his first 5 games for example. Not all would qualify as a key pass, but more will than not.

He has his way of inflating his numbers and the reason why people say he's part of the problem is because him being on the oitch forces the team to follow Conte's plan, which is to give the ball to Lukaku and run.
He also limits our game speed. We are far too slow and sloppy because Lukaku tends to react slowly and sloppily. When he manages a first time pass you see all the difference and the whole team feels dangerous. Assuming he doesn't misplace it, then it's dangerous for our defense

Overall don't disagree much with what you've said, but this is just pointing out where the disagreement comes from.

 

[YoramG]

He also limits our game speed. We are far too slow and sloppy because Lukaku tends to react slowly and sloppily. When he manages a first time pass you see all the difference and the whole team feels dangerous.

I didn't exactly see us play fast, exciting football without Lukaku over the last couple of weeks, but then we did see Perisic in his place so...

All in all, both good posts about Lukaku. I like him lots and think he's the best striker we've had for quite a while, but he's also immensely frustrating at times. I think it was Universe that said we don't need him to be perfect or world class, we just need him to be 'very good' over the course of a season to lift a trophy. And Lautaro/Sanchez need to be able to pick up the slack when Rom is in a funk.

 

[n4l]

I didn't exactly see us play fast, exciting football without Lukaku over the last couple of weeks, but then we did see Perisic in his place so...

All in all, both good posts about Lukaku. I like him lots and think he's the best striker we've had for quite a while, but he's also immensely frustrating at times. I think it was Universe that said we don't need him to be perfect or world class, we just need him to be 'very good' over the course of a season to lift a trophy. And Lautaro/Sanchez need to be able to pick up the slack when Rom is in a funk.

But that's the problem. Others can't pick up the slack if the game 100% revolves around lukaku and lautaro/sanchez are basically feeding off of scraps, loose balls, hustle plays, and solo efforts.

 

[Adriano@10]

I ve said it before and I say it again one guy is responsible for our game plan and his name aint rom or Lautaro it s fucking Cunte....

Go ahead blame our CF that it takes 20 mins for us to get the ball from our keeper into the oppositions half. Matter of fact our build up is much faster with rom cause at least with him on the field we can just pass it to him and he can shield the ball. If he s not there we hoof the ball to lautaro/sanchez or Brozo plays 20 side and back passes before we get into the oppositions half.

Go watch how everton played with him in their side would not say they had to play slow cause of rom....