Romelu Lukaku provides telling winning assist for Anthony Martial - Analysis of striker's performance as Man United beat Tottenham

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Lukaku set-up Martial for the late winner.

    Romelu Lukaku has now failed to find the back of the net in three Premier League games – but he and Manchester United won’t care one bit when they reflect on a hard-fought victory over title rivals Tottenham.

    Indeed, while the Belgian endured a largely frustrating match, he came alive at just the right time to prove the difference between one and three points for Jose Mourinho’s men.

    After hitting the post with a header on 79 minutes, it seemed very much like the moment that summed up a stop-start afternoon for Lukaku in rainy Manchester.

    But, just two minutes later, his sublime headed flick through to Anthony Martial from David de Gea’s goal kick set the Frenchman on the way to scoring the winner.

    It was a telling assist and could prove to be a big moment in the season as the Red Devils piled the pressure on rivals Man City.

    Lukaku will be unhappy he failed to find the net again but it’s something he is used to against the north London club – having only scored just once in nine appearances when facing the Whites in his league career.

    Interestingly, Saturday was his first win against Spurs in his entire career.

    Here, we look at Romelu Lukaku’s performance in-depth:

    Get in touch with your thoughts and contact us via Twitter and Facebook.

    BASIC STATS

    Goals – 0

    Assists – 1

    Shots – 3

    Dribbles – 0

    Passes – 23

    Key passes – 1

    Pass Accuracy – 47.8%

    Touches – 32

    Aerials Won – 4

    EFFECTIVENESS

    For the most part, Belgian duo Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen dealt with the threat of the striker they know very well.

    Lukaku lacked the spark to breach those two with his pace in behind and didn’t regularly receive the ball to his feet in which to take-on Spurs.

    But, while not everything went his way, he kept going with the belief that his big influence on the game was still to come.

    And so it proved with his assist, created purely through his awareness on the pitch to escape the clutches and close marking of Alderweireld and use his aerial prowess to great effect.

    MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 28: Jan Vertonghen of Tottenham Hotspur and Romelu Lukaku of Manchester United battle for possession during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on October 28, 2017 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

    Lukaku was well marshalled by Spurs but had the final say late on.

    KEY MOMENTS

    2 mins – Gets on the front foot, powering down the left-hand channel and fires across the box but Hugo Lloris does well to smother the ball when Marcus Rashford was waiting to tap home.

    10 mins – Shows lack of composure with an initial attempted pass to Rashford, and then slashes a shot-cum-cross out of play in the follow-up incident. Disappointing.

    32 mins – Toby Alderweireld is up to the task and beats Lukaku in the air with a last-ditch header when it looked like the former Everton forward had a sighter on goal.

    55 mins – Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s cut-back from the left byline almost falls to him, but while his momentum takes Lukaku forward under pressure from Spurs defenders to virtually the goal line, the ball evades his feet.

    69 mins – With a bit more anticipation, and fleet-of-foot, Lukaku could have perhaps fetched onto Rashford’s drilled through pass.

    74 mins – Shows terrific turn of pace but Vertonghen drives him to a narrow angle, forcing his international team-mate into a shot-cum-cross that was pushed away by Lloris.

    79 mins – Deserved a goal! Jesse Lingard’s cross from the right was slightly behind Lukaku, but the striker showed colossal neck power to connect brilliantly and steer the header back towards the left-hand corner, only for it to rebound off the right-hand upright.

    81 mins – The Belgian rises highest, escaping Alderweireld’s close watch, and flicks on a superb header which Martial latches onto to score the winner.

    MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 28: Romelu Lukaku of Manchester United heads during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on October 28, 2017 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

    Lukaku’s excellent header ricocheted off the post.

    OUR VERDICT – 7/10

    It wasn’t vintage Lukaku but in a game that looked like passing him by for the best part of 80 minutes, suddenly he burst into life with a stellar assist for his team.

    The forward’s influence in so-called big games and against big teams has been heavily discussed but that one contribution is enough to silence those doubters for the time being.

    Lukaku is more of an impact player rather a 90-minute player, in the sense he doesn’t consistently play a part throughout the game.

    But that doesn’t matter when you possess his kind of quality to make a difference when everything is truly at stake.

    All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com.

    Recommended