Uninspired Lukaku rejects his ‘bully’ label
The Belgian international was a ghost of his usual self in the goalless draw, though his team’s only chance of the game did fall to him as he drew a solid first-half block from Simon Mignolet.
However, for a man who had scored 16 times in 13 games for club and country this season going into the Liverpool game, these 90 minutes did little to dispel the notion that Lukaku is little more than a glorified “flat-track bully”.
In his last eight games against Liverpool, Lukaku has scored one goal and, in five of those matches, he has failed to even record a shot. It’s hardly the sort of record that will have Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero or a handful of other forwards quaking in their boots.
“I have heard that from people,” said Lukaku when that criticism was tactfully put to him after the game.
“It’s different when every time I played for Everton we have a different mindset coming into the game. As a striker, when I was over there, I had a good time. I learned my trade over there.
"I played there for four years. I am really grateful to the club, no matter what happened, but sometimes it is difficult, as well, when you play against the top teams and you play not to win and don’t really create chances. It is really difficult.
“Now, I am in a team where we want to win against the big teams and we want to win every game, so I think the situation will change.
"I don’t put pressure on myself, I think the biggest pressure game for me was the [debut] Super Cup against Real Madrid. That was the game for me where everybody was looking at me and thinking ‘will he do it there’? I think it freed me from everything and I just kept going, tried to improve, week in, week out.
“People will always say this and that, but my record in the Premier League is pretty good and I’m in a situation where the team is performing really well, but there is a lot of work to be done.”
Of course, there are worse accusations to hurl at a forward than that of “flat track bully”, a player who scores freely against poorer teams and fails against the elite.
United were crying out for exactly that sort of player last season when far too many precious points were squandered in draws against inferior teams who were outplayed by Jose Mourinho’s side.
However, United, with Lukaku and Nemanja Matic added to the side, were supposed to be taking quantum leaps this season, from top-four hopefuls into genuine title contenders, but the fact remains that Lukaku’s prodigious return this season has been compiled from a fixture list in which United’s only game against a team in the top 11 places of the Premier League table came at Anfield on Saturday.
Lukaku’s analysis, decent as it was of him to answer such questions, also failed to take into account a glaring contradiction.
Having written off his time at Everton, because of their supposed lack of ambition against so-called bigger teams, Lukaku suffered from exactly that kind of approach from Mourinho at Anfield, as the Portuguese slipped firmly into bus-parking mode.
“It’s all about winning and trying to play as attractive football as we can, win all the time at all costs,” said Lukaku.
“It’s something I learned really quickly in the training sessions, whether it’s ball possession or finishing, you always want to be the best. It’s something I embraced.
"It took me a week to know how the habits are and at the end of the day I am part of a team that is performing really well and I’m delighted to be part of it.”
Much as Lukaku may have been following the party line, this United display was anything but “win all the time at all costs.” The mantra this United line-up seemed to be following was “do not lose at all costs”.
That is perfectly valid, with Mourinho having every right to play precisely how he sees fit in his efforts to keep pace with a Manchester City side that had already beaten this same Liverpool opposition by five goals this season.
“If you want to judge our two match plans then do it. I have no time for it. I don’t even think about it,” claimed Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
“Most things they did today was completely clear. Why should I talk about them sitting back before the game? That’s not my job. Jose obviously did what he thinks is right, or what he wants to do, and that is okay.
“It doesn’t make life easier for us, but I can’t moan and say: ‘Come on, open up a little bit.’ That’s not how it is. They want to win the league and I am sure we couldn’t play like this at Liverpool after 25 years without the title. We cannot sit back and say ‘let’s wait’, that is not possible.
“We have to do whatever is necessary and we will be challengers. We will be challengers for the next few years, no problem. We showed big heart, we were brave, I thought we were smart in doing the right thing at the right moment, but in the end it didn’t work out.”
Mignolet 6; Gomez 8, Lovren 6, Matiz 6, Moreno 7; Wijnaldum 7, Henderson 7, Can 7; Salah 7 (Sturridge 78, 6), Firmino 6 (Solanke 86), Coutinho 6 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 78, 6).
Karius, Milner, Klavan, Alexander-Arnold
De Sea 8; Valencia 6, Smalling 6, Jones 7, Darmian 7; Herrera 6, Matic 6; Young 6 (Lindelof 90), Mkhitaryan 5 (Lingard 63, 6), Martial 6 (Rashford 65, 6); Lukaku 5. Subs (not used) Mata, Blind, Romero, Tuanzebe.
M Atkinson 6
