Romelu Lukaku

[K.I.]

All is well when the team wins in a game like yesterdays, but not during the league last year, the 2CL exists and EL final.

 

[wera]

Yeah, the hate will come back sooner or later.

 

[dax21]

Let's retire the "doesn't score in big games" narrative for a day

Fair enough.

 

[rfU]

Lazio fielded one real CB today in Acerbi who was playing in some kind of hybrid LB/CF position. Hoedt although decent on the ball, has been a reject player all his career and Parolo is a 36 year old midfielder. God knows why Inzaghi thought it a good idea to play a high-line with that defensive line-up.

In any case you can only play what's in front of you and that's what Kaku did, to his credit. But we need to tone it down a little with the praise and save it for when he dominates Van Dijk or Koulibaly.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Yeah their defensive decisions by Inzaghi were poor. Nothing can be taken away from Lukaku still, he used that to his advantage with Lautaro.

 

[brehme1989]

Let's retire the "doesn't score in big games" narrative for a day

Day passed.

Let's talk about it.

One PK.

One flaky attempt at goal when everyone assumed he was offside and defenses usually switch off when they are collectively under the impression of an offside violation. Ours does it too and it needs to change in this new VAR world.

Sure, two goals is what matters, but let's not pretend that it was because he "stepped up". He had like only 3 decent moves last night but two of them were critical (pass for PK & the assist), which gives the idea that he was overall performing well. Overall he was actually being poor, especially in the first half with misplacements, bad runs and terrible interception. Second half he started off better (probably since Parolo was on him) but he looked exhausted, lost the ball several times, got tackled a bit which helped tire him up even more. He was very eager to get a hatrick which could have cost us points, as Lazio was on the attack. If De Vrij didn't dispossess Immobile there with Brozovic around and their whole team wasn't attacking, it'd never be 3-1 based on how big the chances we were missing were. We all know that if he hadn't scored earlier, he probably would have attempted to score there and miss rather than spot Martinez. There are several situations where this was the case and this was a rare exception. Hopefully it becomes closer to the norm because this is what we need him to be doing.

People pretend that when Lukaku is on the score sheet that something godly happened by him. It's cute.
He had the most unsuccessful touches, missed two sitters and also was dispossessed the most.
And as others above mentioned, Lazio didn't even put pressure on him and hardly had a proper center back.

The only really pleasant thing is that he has a very favorable stat line and him and Lautaro finally had a couple of decent moments between them. Hopefully it keeps going.

On the previous note about him screaming at his teammates. It is unnatural. There's a reason why everyone is commenting on it whenever it happens. It is not normal teammate behavior. Sure, he can complain and shout at times but now we're surprised he doesn't yell at his teammates. It's toxic.

 

[Bluenine]

I had to make this gif. On a chance to score a hat-trick, Lukaku does this:

Respect.

 

[CafeCordoba]

I really understand these both arguments. He put up a good performance, specially that crucial 3-1 run. But also brehme points out stuff which didn't work.

Really tired of this epic battle regarding Lukaku in this forum. Whenever brehme points out flaws in his game, people coming in bashing hard. These points are usually correct but because it's brehme who has been against Lukaku ACQUISITION since the start, people just go apeshit whatever is said. Then again brehme downplays the good stuff Lukaku does and concentrates a lot on the negatives he does (which he does).

To me Lukaku is really a confusing player. He has his amazing moments and of course the goal scoring record. But then he has these moments of really average player fucking up shit or not understanding basic things. Confusing player definitely.

edit. Gotta add, that whole goal was really one of the best single plays Lukaku has done at Inter IMO. Specially that he takes advantage of grandpa Parolo and then passes instead of trying to shoot to setup Lautaro for the free goal. Because trying to shoot from that position would have probably ended to Reina. He barely got the pass released. brehme said it well that Lukaku should try to set up his team mates more because his finishing isn't really world class.

 

[diamen]

Lukaku is not confusing. He is great player, but he will struggle against strong physically opponents which are defending in very compact way. Like Juventus recently. He needs space to make his runs. When he is in the box crowded by defenders he is not so useful, because his technique is not on the same level like other top strikers. You have to have perfect technique and first touch to break opponent's defence when they are defending with 7-8 players in their box.
But when there is a bit of space he is amazing. He can create chances like he did yesterday when he passed to Lautaro and we get penalty, he can make a quick pass to Hakimi and give him a highway to opponent's goal or he can make a run by himself and create easy 1vs1 chance.

 

[Ziyad]

Rest him for the next 4 days..

 

[rfU]

Even Perisic and Brozovic who had a beef with our former number 9 because they couldn't stand his bullshit seem to be getting along well with Lukaku, and that says a lot. No fucking issue here.

That's thing, we don't know what could be bubbling beneath the surface. As long as things are going well, issues won't come out, but doesn't mean they're not there.

Players are human. You can't tell me Hakimi is not in some way affected by Kaku's incessant yelling. And it's funny to me because Kaku's is a sensitive player. Maybe after every game he apologizes and the beef is squashed.

And it's interesting that he doesn't have a go at established or veteran players.

Overall he was actually being poor

i thought this too. Outside of 3/4 moments he didn't really have a good game. But he made a massive contribution to the result so that's a positive we shouldn't knock.

 

[Provenzano]

Lukaku has scored his third brace at home, no player has scored more such brace in the top-5 European Championships 2020/21

 

[brehme1989]

I really understand these both arguments. He put up a good performance, specially that crucial 3-1 run. But also brehme points out stuff which didn't work.

Really tired of this epic battle regarding Lukaku in this forum. Whenever brehme points out flaws in his game, people coming in bashing hard. These points are usually correct but because it's brehme who has been against Lukaku ACQUISITION since the start, people just go apeshit whatever is said. Then again brehme downplays the good stuff Lukaku does and concentrates a lot on the negatives he does (which he does).

To me Lukaku is really a confusing player. He has his amazing moments and of course the goal scoring record. But then he has these moments of really average player fucking up shit or not understanding basic things. Confusing player definitely.

edit. Gotta add, that whole goal was really one of the best single plays Lukaku has done at Inter IMO. Specially that he takes advantage of grandpa Parolo and then passes instead of trying to shoot to setup Lautaro for the free goal. Because trying to shoot from that position would have probably ended to Reina. He barely got the pass released. brehme said it well that Lukaku should try to set up his team mates more because his finishing isn't really world class.

It's actually quite simple.


Lukaku as an acquisition, without any context, has been a positive one. He's a starter, he contributes with scoring and he essentially is irreplaceable in this lineup for whatever reasons.

Lukaku, as a transfer, has been a rather bad investment. We spent a shit load of money on him to do things that others could done with half the cost, he does not elevate our level as he fails to step up in important games and as a result, we have been thinner in our team selection since we could not afford a backup striker and we did not commit the funds on a top midfielder in the summer of 2019. The fact that Eriksen came as a present with just 20m does not rule this fact out, especially when considering that it tooks 13 months for Conte to admit that this guy is an Inter player and he has to integrate him in the squad.

Lukaku is not world class and he lost his chance to become this kind of player. He is very volatile in terms of confidence, he doesn't take advantage of his qualities, he misses too many sitters that do not come under any real pressure and his deficiencies are too extravagant to ignore. This does not mean he's a bad player. He's just not that great. If he was, no one would have been crying for wasting money on him but instead everyone would have been on board from the get go. It's a poor investment that we have to live with and hopefully the rest of the team (Barella, Eriksen, Brozovic, the defensive trio, Sanchez, Vidal and Lautaro) step up in order to maximize the team's chances at winning something.
Being a record transfer comes with certain expectations. He deserves to be under scrutiny and if he cannot tolerate it, well, it just adds to the fact that he's not been a solid investment.

Because so far the results are underwhelming. It's great that we are top of the table, but we still have almost one round of games to go. Don't let the date fool you, this is typically late January by normal scheduling. Most teams hit form in March and this year it's a mystery of what's going to happen. Hopefully we're the ones hitting form, but we've been quite streaky.

 

[Black Knight]

Come on, brehme. It feels like there's nothing this guy can ever do which you won't downplay. It's usually that his goals don't matter because the game was already one. Since that wasn't the case yesterday, you still downplay his contribution. The way I (and most people) see it, he was immense yesterday and we wouldn't have won this big game without him.

 

[brakbrak]

I had to make this gif. On a chance to score a hat-trick, Lukaku does this:

Respect.

Respect? It's not like he had a chance to score that, he was marked very closely and in a very weird angle as he always prefers to shoot with his left foot. It was a good run but stop making it as if 100% of what he does it selfless.

 

[Bluenine]

Respect? It's not like he had a chance to score that, he was marked very closely and in a very weird angle as he always prefers to shoot with his left foot. It was a good run but stop making it as if 100% of what he does it selfless.

Yes, passing the ball was the smart move. But lets not pretend that most strikers in that situation, Lautaro included, would have taken that low percentage shot.

I also don't buy into this false narrative that Brehme and a few others are peddling here that Lukaku is ruining to the team spirit by his shouting, etc. On the contrary, Lukaku is a good example of a team player. The complaining, etc is blown way out of proportion - the only people who care about that are the media and some armchair "experts" with other agendas. Cut the noise and listen to the players instead. The players talk about Lukaku in glowing terms, how he helps and supports them. From his pass yesterday, to all the hard work he puts on every shift twice a week without complaining, to the time he gave his penalty to young Esposito... every indication is that Lukaku is a positive influence on our team spirit. This is what Martinez had to say about Lukaku yesterday:

“Romelu works so hard for the team and sometimes I have to start the runs early to keep up with him on those counter-attacks,” Martinez told Sky Sport Italia.

Not that he is a great player or was decisive, but that he works hard for the team. There are similar quotes by a lot of players over the last 18 months praising his hard work and attitude. That wouldn't be the case if Lukaku was annoying his team mates with his shouting.

I didn't rate Lukaku as highly as most when he joined, and didn't think he was worth the 74m we paid for him. But Lukaku has proven me wrong, so far he has been worth every penny just based on his performances. His game has gone up a level since he joined Inter. On top of that, his professionalism and attitude are a joy to watch, next to only Barella. Lukaku is becoming a leader of this team, and possibly an Inter legend if he continues on this path.

This may be hard for the Icardi fans to bear, but Lukaku is the best striker we have had since the treble heroes.

 

[ElDuccio]

dat speed at the third goal, holly shit... he did the same against Siviglia where he got a penalty after the run. That's the Romelu we want to see!!!!!!!!

 

[syrus]

Put him in the French league next to Neymar and co., he will net 60 goals a season.

Regardless Lukaku was not signed for his flair or dribbling skill.
Albeit we signed him for more £££ than what we are used to , his contribution to the team this far has been more beneficial than not.

Remember a strikers top attribute is to score goals
Others nick picking other parts of his game (relentlessly) Is due to suit their own narratives.

I agree I too get frustrated with him at times and often find myself shouting at the screen , (that's the passion, it's what makes us love football ,)
But I rather him on our team than the opposition

 

[I'mNewHere]

BIG ROM, making Lautaro look decent.

 

[brehme1989]

The only annoying thing about me on this situation is that I'm a constant. Yet I'm never seeking attention or vindication or anything. I don't care about that crap. I just notice things and I post about them.

Lukaku has been very consistently inconsistent. When he's turd like, there's a significant amount of members who come in and shit on him.
When he scores a goal or two against any kind of opposition or manner, we'll have another set of members that will come in here and hype him.

There's not that many of us that consistently talk about him. But the same applies with other players as well, but since they aren't some undefined brigade banners for some of you, you don't pay attention to that and consider everything that is said against "your" player to be an attack on you or whatever.

Just check the last two pages. Dig back and tell me when did most of these members made an appearance in the Lukaku thread prior to that. Yeap, keep digging back and you may have your answer.