Former Chelsea player Tony Cascarino did not hold back in his assessment of Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku, calling the player ‘predictable’.
The Belgian has come in for his fair share of criticism this season and after not scoring during the club’s loss against Newcastle, received even more from the pundit.
Lukaku though was perhaps United’s best player on the day, winning arial battles, putting passes on a plate for his teammates and holding the ball up well.
The striker truly showed how his link up play has improved since coming to Old Trafford but still sees himself harshly critiqued.
Cascarino though simply believes the Red Devils’ stature means they shouldn’t have employed a ‘predictable’ striker in Romelu.
According to the Daily Star, Tony wrote in The Times: “Man City, Liverpool, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain: the most exciting teams in Europe have flexible, free-flowing attackers.
“Manchester United have a fixed point in their striker Romelu Lukaku and are therefore predictable. I feel for Lukaku as it’s not his fault, but United’s formulaic style does not suit Alexis Sanchez.
“They have spent all that money but are such a long way from the days of Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. If they are to be a success with Sanchez I don’t see how Lukaku fits in, particularly for tough away games.”
This isn’t the first time Romelu Lukaku’s movement has been called into question but it’s done so a little harshly by Tony Cascarino.
The former Everton man does have a tendency to run to the far post in order to score his goals but it’s perhaps due to old habits and less so to do with his predictability.
Also, the cliche “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind in regards to Lukaku as he’s proven himself to be a more than capable goalscorer.
Varied movement will certainly help the powerful forward but it will all come in time as he adjusts to leading the line for one of the top clubs in England.
Back at Everton he wasn’t really required to link things together as he is at United and he’s added that to his game so there’s no reason to believe he can’t improve his movement as well.