Patrick Rees
Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku has sent a razor-sharp message to all his critics in a simple Instagram story ahead of his side’s clash against Antonio Conte’s Chelsea at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
Manchester United are scheduled to welcome Chelsea to the Theatre of Dreams on February 25, Sunday, and while the rivalry between Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho has grabbed the recent headlines, Romelu Lukaku’s form against the top-six clubs has seen him come under heavy criticism.
Lukaku joined Manchester United back in the summer for a hefty fee but maybe the pundits were right; he isn’t a big game player.
The towering Belgian hasn’t scored a goal against any of the top-six teams that Manchester United have faced; two against Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. In fact, as a whole, his form against these aforementioned clubs has never been great either.
The striker has scored an impressive 9 goals in 11 appearances against West Ham, 8 goals in 10 appearances against Sunderland, 6 goals in 9 appearances against Southampton but when it comes to facing any top Premier League side, he has stumbled big time.
Talking numbers (taking Premier League into consideration), the striker has only scored 5 goals in 12 appearances against Liverpool thus far, 4 in 11 against Manchester City, 2 in 12 against Arsenal, 1 in 10 against Tottenham and none against his former team Chelsea. Many would recall his brilliant solo strike against Chelsea back in the FA Cup in 2016, but let’s face the reality here.
So as now United are up against Chelsea in the Premier League, Romelu Lukaku has sent a message to all of his critics in the smartest way possible. Posting an Instagram story, the Belgian revealed that he was listening to ‘Why You Always Hatin?’ by YG on Friday. Whatever it may be, manager Jose Mourinho decided to defend his striker by saying that ’21 goals is not bad at all.’
“I don’t know but I’m not worried,” Mourinho was quoted by Metro Sports.
“I think 21 goals is not bad at all and I don’t measure the players’ performances the same way you do. I have other points of analysis and I’m happy with Romelu’s performances even when he doesn’t score goals.”
It is nice to see that Lukaku is ready to give it back to the critics. It is important to have a strong mentality and if he can prove these numbers wrong, he’d be unstoppable.
