The stats behind Romelu Lukaku’s slump in form for Manchester United
Romelu Lukaku has gone more than 13 hours of football without scoring for Manchester United since netting against Watford on September 15. In that time you could watch the extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy without break and still have over an hour to spare. Jose Mourinho is understandably concerned.
“His moment is not sweet, not just with the goals he is not scoring but in his confidence, movement, touch, he is not linking the game well with the team,” Mourinho told reporters after United’s 1-0 defeat at home to Juventus on Tuesday night.
Mourinho went on to back Lukaku but the striker’s decline has come at the worst possible moment for his manager. Goal droughts are not particularly uncommon in Lukaku’s club career. He has previously experienced a streak of 11 games without a goal in the Premier League and two separate barren runs of eight games. However, the fact he is no longer contributing to United’s overall game is the biggest concern.
Lukaku has scored four goals in 13 appearances in all competitions this season, nine shy of his total at the same stage last term. All four goals were scored during a four-game run against Brighton, Tottenham, Burnley and Watford. His WhoScored rating was 7.49 during that period but only 6.67 since then.
Even though Lukaku’s performances have divided opinion since moving to United, the Belgium international is crucial to their system under Mourinho. As the vocal point of their attack, Lukaku not only needs to peel off into the channels but pin defenders back and allow runners off him. Neither of those things are happening at the moment and everything tends to break down around him. This was particularly evident against Juventus on Tuesday night.
As early as the ninth minute, Lukaku drifted to the right touchline and managed to floor Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini, only to fumble his control, cut back and spray a wild crossfield pass straight to Juan Cuadrado with United’s midfield hopelessly exposed. The subsequent attack came to nothing but it wasted a rare opportunity when United had destabilised Juventus’ defence.
During Lukaku’s current eight-game goalless streak, the 25-year-old has only forced the goalkeeper into a save on three occasions. He managed eight shots on target in the four games preceding that, emphasising that something has gone drastically wrong. The fact his touch average in the opposition box has gone from 6.8 down to 4.5, respectively, over the two periods further highlights his current struggles.
Lukaku only scored 16 goals in 34 league appearances last season but even then he was still hugely influential to United’s attack, particularly during the second half of the season. But that is no longer the case.
During his four-game spell against Brighton, Tottenham, Burnley and Watford, Lukaku averaged 1.5 key passes per game and was combining with his team-mates with 1.5 accurate lay-offs per game. In the eight games since then those respective figures have dropped to 0.6 and 0.9.
The fact Lukaku scored twice for Belgium during the most recent international break shows he still knows where the goal is and perhaps hints at a wider problem at United. Belgium finished third at the 2018 World Cup and Lukaku is feeding off creativity from the likes of Eden Hazard, Dries Mertens and Kevin De Bruyne, albeit the latter was injured earlier this month. Roberto Martinez also puts a greater emphasis on attacking compared to Mourinho at United.
Against the Old Lady, Lukaku managed the fewest touches of any outfielder (32) and only three more than Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny (29). Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial spent large portions against Juventus picking up the ball inside their own half. It’s difficult to create chances when your forwards are more than 50 yards away from goal.
Lukaku said on the eve of Tuesday’s clash that his team-mates are still figuring out how best to use him and the fact Mourinho named an unchanged starting XI in midweek for the first time since December 2017 surely has done little to accelerate that process.
While it’s true Mourinho can do more to get the best from his attacking players, Lukaku has genuinely looked cumbersome over the last month. He is overdue a rest and Mourinho even hinted at it himself after the loss to Juventus. However, with Jesse Lingard and Alexis Sanchez momentarily sidelined, he all but ruled that option out.
A meeting with former club Everton on Sunday represents a golden opportunity for Lukaku to answer his critics. Things looked on the up for Mourinho after last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea but the harsh reality is that United have won only one of their last seven matches in all competitions.
