All eyes were on Romelu Lukaku as he made his first start for Manchester United in this pre-seasons second game against Real Salt Lake.
And he didn’t disappoint as he scored his first goal in a Man United shirt but how did he play in the first 30 minutes before he got on the score sheet?
Lukaku’s movement was very good but United weren’t gearing their football towards him enough. We weren’t getting the ball wide and trying to find him in the middle, so a lot of the time he was left frustrated and not much was happening for him:
Fosu mensa looks top notch, Jones is a liability. Lindeloff good. Lukaku poor in the two games I've seen of him so far.
— Martin Maclean (@Martsmac) July 18, 2017
I'm not even gonna blame Lukaku. This team is not for him 😂😂
— Tiny Dodge (@MrScripto) July 18, 2017
1-1 Mkhitaryan! Out of nowhere! First decent footballing move and he buries it, great finish.
— The Peoples Person (@PeoplesPerson_) July 18, 2017
Nice hold up play by Lukaku in the build up to that goal
— Matt (@MattP260599) July 18, 2017
Lukaku working his socks off here. Pressing, defending from the front. Exactly what you want to see.
— Dallas Reds (@DallasReds_MUFC) July 18, 2017
Then Lukaku bagged his first goal and opinion quickly changed:
Romelu Lukaku's first goal in a Manchester United shirt.
First of many, hopefully. pic.twitter.com/04R7bnLd3l
— Jordan Clarke (@FourFourJordan) July 18, 2017
Lukaku was so composed there, its so hard to do but thats your job as a striker. Well done Romelu
— Perth Man United (@PerthMUSC) July 18, 2017
Lukaku good finish. Mkhitaryan looking good. Need him to have a big year #mufc
— John (@jbabz84) July 18, 2017
Lukaku has quickly got that monkey off his back with that first goal and it will be a big relief to him as well as United fans. I saw plenty of promise in that first half from him which is positive but on the flip side I saw a style of play from United which really won’t get that much out of him, too often he was isolated and that’s concerning.
United need to learn to play towards Lukaku and bring as much out of him as possible and to do that we need to play a bit more direct to him over the top or bring more width into the game. If we can do that, then we’ll start to make the most out of him but even without that Lukaku bagged his first goal, so well done to him.
