It was once a privilege to be United’s striker – now it has become a burden
AS IS often the case with famous footballers instinctively suspicious of anyone asking questions when they were on the other side of the divide, Paul Scholes has said more about Manchester United in a few months as a pundit than he did over many years as a player and very little of it has been kind.
Scholes has had so many axes to grind during United’s demise, you half expect him to turn up in the television studio wearing a lumberjack shirt, but that does not mean he should be ignored.
Of all the cutting comments Scholes has delivered recently, perhaps the most brutal was that even Lionel Messi would struggle to impress playing up front for United given their lack of confidence and restrictive style of play.
It was a ridiculous comment, only because the Argentinian is so good, there is not a team that he would not instantly improve, but the thinking behind Scholes’ latest barb was sound.
United are not an easy team to play centre-forward for because they are not a team built to dominate through attacking football.
There is neither an abundance of pace or creativity in midfield, or out wide, which makes the centreforward’s role a completely different one to years gone by. Where once it was an honour and privilege to be Manchester United’s centre-forward it has become a heavy burden.
They are a side in which the central striker is expected, without respite, to be a work horse rather than a show pony. Mourinho’s teams do not just need someone to get on the end of chances, they need a target man, a link player, a first line of defence and an outlet ball. He demands a centreforward who can play with their back to goal, but also one who can chase a lost cause and win more than their fair share of headers.
When a team does not seem to be able to settle on a style of play, the centre-forward is expected to cover every base. It is impossible to be everywhere, just as it is futile to expect a player to be able to do everything.
It is a thankless task and has looked too much for Romelu Lukaku in recent weeks. The Belgian has managed just four goals this season and has looked so badly out of sorts that he has become a figure of fun for some.
Whatever Lukaku has done wrong, he does not deserve to be giggled about on Radio Five Live’s new Sunday lunchtime show ‘The Squad’.
For those who have not listened to/
endured ‘The Squad’, it is a football chat show for the FIFA console, Fantasy League, Football Managerplaying generation, a deliberately light-hearted, ‘banter’ heavy look at the weekend’s football.
Think Skinner and Baddiel’s Fantasy Football Show for people probably a lot younger than you, who say “like” and “you know” at lot and you’ll have a decent idea of the premise.
Just as Baddiel and Skinner made a mockery of former Nottingham Forest striker Jason Lee in their ’90s heyday, ‘The Squad’ seem to have decided Lukaku is a convenient target for some easy laughs –most of which seem to be amongst themselves.
Regardless of what does and does not make you laugh on the radio, the fact one of the Premier League’s most consistent centre-forwards has been reduced to a repetitive running joke on a weekly chat show is a sad state of affairs for a player who cost United £75m fewer than 18 months ago.
Lukaku had not scored for United since the 2-1 win over Watford on September 15 and having laboured badly against Juventus in the Champions League, he will not have been stunned to be told he was not starting against Everton.
In came Marcus Rashford, but with just one goal in nine games for his club, United’s number 10 fared no better than their number 9.
He was just as isolated, looked just as frustrated and when he did get a rare chance, he did not take it.
Rashford has more pace than Lukaku, he is able to run clear of defenders and beat them from a standing start, but the 20-year-old’s finishing remains unreliable.
When he had the ball in the back of the net in the first half, he was standing offside, when he was sent in on goal in the second, he hit a shot straight into the legs of the goalkeeper. A few minutes later and his afternoon was done, Lukaku coming on to replace him. He missed a chance as well, a header that would have made it 3-1 to his team.
Whoever starts against Bournemouth next weekend, it is not going to be easy. It never will be for the centre-forward in this United team. (© Daily Telegraph, London)