For the first time since his move, Lukaku simply looked ordinary
Striker was criticised at Everton for failure to net against top teams and it is an accusation that sticks
When you think of the elite strikers, they score important goals in important games. They score the winner in a tight, tetchy battle, or rescue a draw with a decisive, clinical finish when the pressure is on. When the stage is set, and the spotlight shines brightest, they seize the moment, they deliver the five-star performance when it is needed most.
Romelu Lukaku did not do that against Liverpool. In United’s biggest game of the season so far, he disappeared, slid into the shadows and became a member of the supporting cast. There were periods, in fact, when he was a spectator, a man with a great seat to watch a game played by others.
If there has been a need to query Lukaku’s credentials in the past, it was his record against the best teams. The question has always been, is he just a bully, a plunderer of goals against the weak, but too timid and meek against the big boys to be called one of the best in the world?
For the first time as a United player, Lukaku did not have an answer. For the first time since his summer move from Everton, Lukaku did nothing to justify price tag, hype or reputation.
By anyone’s standards, the 24-yearold has had a remarkable season up to this point. It has been the perfect start.
There are some players who, having moved to a club like Manchester United, for a record fee involving two British clubs, who would have struggled with the weight of expectation; the pressure and the demand for an instant return on a £75million-plus investment.
Lukaku, though, has not so much taken everything in his stride as hopped, skipped and jumped his way through his first few months at Old Trafford. There was no nerve shredding wait for his first goal – he scored on his debut against Real Madrid – and has kept on scoring since, 16 in 14 appearances for club and country. Only once had Lukaku failed to score in a game this season before this, against Leicester on Aug 26, but this was different.
To attack him is harsh, perhaps, but that does not mean it is a topic that should not be discussed, particularly as Lukaku’s record against the best teams is a spark that ignited criticism before he became a United player.
This was a special sort of test, for both
Lukaku and United. An intense fixture against an old rival and one of the teams capable, on paper, of seriously challenging them. It was the first time United have played one of the Big Six this season. For all their faults, Liverpool were not going to be blown away at home in the way others have been. They would not be bullied by Lukaku or anyone else.
Liverpool’s defence may be a weakness, but Lukaku still had to prove himself against them, particularly as he had persistently failed to do so as an Everton player.
It was also the sort of game where he would be left on his own up front because of the way Jose Mourinho set out to contain Liverpool’s attack.
Lukaku, though, offered very little. Isolated and heavily outnumbered, he was roughed up, bruised and harassed by a Liverpool defence with the numbers to swarm whenever United tried to get the ball to him. Having touched the ball once in the opening 20 minutes, his first moment of influence came when he ran on to a long ball over the top of the Liverpool defence from Nemanja Matic.
Lukaku stretched his legs and comfortably out-paced Dejan Lovren. The centre-back initially did well to
Having failed to score at Anfield during four years at Everton, it was a miss that can play on the mind
hold him up and push him away from the area, but Lukaku shifted the ball from one foot to the other and had enough pace to get to the byline. The cross, though, with his weaker right foot, was terrible. The Kop roared its delight.
Minutes later, the chance, the big chance. In close games, a lone striker, in a team playing on the counterattack, might only get one.
In front of the same Kop End that had mocked him moments earlier, after some lovely intricate build up play from United, a one-two with Anthony Martial slipped Lukaku in behind the defence. Without breaking stride or looking up, Lukaku went for power, caught the shot well enough, but it was straight at goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
For a player who failed to score at Anfield during his four years across Stanley Park at Everton, it was the sort of miss that can play on the mind long after a save has been made.
Mourinho knew his attack lacked a threat, replacing Martial with Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan with Jesse Lingard in the second half, but he left Lukaku on. It was a sign of how important the Belgian has become.
Even on an off-day, his manager did not want to remove him, but he may as well have done. Lukaku barely broke into a run, let alone touched the ball.
For the first time as a United player, the striker looked ordinary. The flat-track bully accusation has not disappeared, not yet.