PEP: THIS WAS THE BEST YET
ROMELU Lukaku has defended himself following criticism from United legend Gary Neville after his poor scoring run against Liverpool continued.
The Belgian striker produced his worst performance in a red shirt at Anfield on Saturday in the 0-0 stalemate, with pundit Neville describing him as ‘distracted’ – insisting he had ‘no influence’.
Lukaku has now scored one goal in his last eight games against Liverpool – and Neville insists he will be judged on his performances against the big teams.
When his one chance came two minutes before half-time, Simon Mignolet was equal to it – pushing away his goalbound effort.
But while the £75m forward does believe he is the subject of undue scrutiny, he refuses to let it affect him.
“That has to be the striker’s biggest strength,” he said. “Knowing that you are going to score and that you are going to miss.
“But every time I miss, people put it like this - but a lot of strikers in the league miss bigger chances than me.
“But with me it’s always ‘Rom did this, Rom did that’ I don’t know why.
“With me it [my price tag] is always put out. PEP Guardiola could not name a better City performance under him after the 7-2 thrashing of Stoke.
Seven goals from six different scorers propelled City to the top of the league and sent out another warning to the rest of the league that they will be incredibly difficult to stop this season.
Considering their players travelled more than any other team during the international break, City – led by another masterclass from Kevin de Bruyne – looked fresh as they
“I accept that as a matter of fact. “I’m always relaxed.” But the 24-year-old is adamant he has already answered any doubts about him with his goal against Real Madrid at the start of the season.
“I think the biggest pressure game for me was the Super Cup,” he said. “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 steamrollered Stoke and made it impossible for Mark Hughes and his side.
“Always you can do it better but I cannot deny today was maybe the best performance since I arrived,” said Guardiola.
“Everybody wanted a touch to help us to give an extra pass. After the people in the middle had done their bit, the wingers and strikers made the difference.
“Big congratulations because we win, and especially because of the way we won.” and I’m in a situation where the team is performing really well.
“It’s different. Every time I played for Everton we had 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.
“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.”
United special: Pages 49-51
City’s coach simply smiled and nodded when the irresistible De Bruyne was brought up but after praising the Belgian and David Silva, he stressed the collective display from his players.
“Everyone gave a good performance,” he said. “You cannot score seven goals when all the team is not good. Our buildup with Fernandinho, John [Stones] and Nico [Otamendi] was fluid and good, our wingers made good movement and runs in behind. We made a good performance.”