Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha believes Romelu Lukaku will be more consistent with his performances once he manages to adapt to Jose Mourinho’s style of play. The Belgium international has already crossed the 20-goal mark in his maiden season with United, but there has still been criticism owing to his inability to score against the elite clubs.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Saha admits that Lukaku has struggled to find his goalscoring form from the early part of the season, but he puts much of the blame on the style of play Mourinho has adopted, he said: “He started well, we can see that he has got more in him. We want to see him rip apart some defenders because he can do it.
“Physically he’s so strong. I will say that he can do more but that’s easy to say. Sometimes Lukaku might not be helped with Mourinho’s style of play. I wish next season maybe, with one year under his belt, he’ll be even more consistent.”
Mourinho has tended to utilise a defensive approach when his side comes against any of the top-six clubs, and this has seemingly reduced the service to Lukaku, who has cut a forlorn figure, much to the disappointment of the club’s faithful.
Nevertheless, the Belgian’s link-up play has improved as the season has gone on, and he remains the undisputed first-choice in the centre-forward department with Zlatan Ibrahimovic sidelined through injury, whilst Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have been preferred out wide.
Though United’s Premier League challenge has come to a pre-mature end, they still have plenty to play for in terms of the FA Cup and Champions League, and Lukaku will have plenty of opportunities to redeem himself and prove that he is the right-choice to lead the line for the long-term.