Romelu Lukaku had yet another terrible game against a top-six side when Manchester United lost 3-1 to Liverpool at Anfield on the weekend. But just how bad was the Belgian’s performance?
Romelu Lukaku isn’t doing too much to challenge the notion that he’s a flat-track bully.
Manchester United’s number nine has shown no problem putting one or even two goals past a relegation side, but as soon as he faces a somewhat competent defence, he’s nowhere to be seen.
So it wasn’t very surprising that Lukaku continued his streak of disappearing against top-six sides when United lost 3-1 to Liverpool at Anfield on the weekend.
The numbers don’t paint a very good picture of the Belgium international.
Not only did Lukaku fail to score against the Reds, he didn’t even register a single shot all game – on or off target!
Yikes.
But things only get worse from here for the striker.
Lukaku managed only seven successful passes all game out of 11 attempts, meaning that he wasn’t even contributing to United’s overall play when he wasn’t scoring.
Furthermore, the 25-year-old lost a whopping 11 out of his 13 duels with the Liverpool players – many of them against centre-back Virgil van Dyke. This means that he didn’t just fail at being a goalscoring centre-forward, but also a target man, as he struggled to hold the ball up for his teammates.
Now, I’m not saying that Lukaku isn’t good enough to start for United and should be benched or even sold. I’m just here to give you the facts – and they’re not looking too good.
Ultimately, it’s up to the manager, Jose Mourinho, to decide if he should continue to play his striker or trust somebody else up top for a change…
Do you think Jose Mourinho should bench Romelu Lukaku? Should the club just go ahead and sell him? Who would you rather have up top for Manchester United? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!