Why is Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku so polarizing, even among supporters of his own team? Well, it could be because he consistently fits the “dominant against weaker teams, but a no show against the big boys” narrative so often. Lukaku is goalless this season against the rest of the big six, but his drought doesn’t stop there.
He has 21 goals this season since he made the summer transfer from Everton, but none have come against any team in the league’s top eight. Lukaku bagged a brace in the FA Cup win at Huddersfield Town (a side recently promoted to the top flight) a week ago, and indeed that was impressive.
However, a goal tomorrow would give him his first in a league contest against Chelsea (seven appearances), or with Chelsea (10 appearances). That’s a total of 17 games. United and former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho doesn’t have an answer for why the Belgian struggles in big games, but he also adds that he’s not worried.
“I don’t know (why he has not scored against top-six sides) but I’m not worried,” Mourinho responded when asked about this topic at his news conference Friday.
“Twenty-one goals is not bad at all and I don’t measure the players’ performances the same way you do. I have other points of analysis and I’m happy with Romelu’s performance even when he doesn’t score goals.”
United holding midfielder Nemanja Matic believes Lukaku will eventually get it done too.
“Romelu is a great striker. For a young player, it’s not an easy situation because everyone expects you to score in every game. It is not easy to deal with that expectation but as he’s shown already he’s doing well,” Matic said in an interview with Sky Sports on Friday.
“Mentally he’s strong and I’m sure he will continue to score goals. He’s still young and can improve more and I’m sure he will do big things for Manchester United.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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