Romelu Lukaku is not alone

[xiaolan]

It was a shot heard around the world. First Cristiano Ronaldo leapt, twisted and arched his back, as if performing the Fosbury flop. Then came the crack of boot on ball, lace on leather, delirium and endless dissection.

But while Ronaldo’s stunning bicycle kick against Juventus took the breath away, watching him deliver in the Champions League – and again in the Madrid derby on Sunday – came as no surprise. Nowadays he follows the line from Ecclesiastes to the letter: What has been done before will be done again.

It was also Ronaldo who came to mind during the rollicking Manchester derby on Saturday, as City were running United ragged and Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku were again being berated for failing to impose themselves. Because people used to say the same about Ronaldo, too: big‑game bottler; flat‑track bully; unable to dominate Ja'Wuan James Womens Jersey important games.

And while Pogba provided the perfect riposte, suddenly reverting to the omnipotent marauder of his Juve days after half-time, Lukaku remained a lumbering and largely peripheral figure in United’s comeback. He left the Etihad Stadium having failed to muster a shot on target, with the fewest touches (23) and the lowest pass completion percentage (53%) of any starter. Frankly, he was awful. Critics also noted that while Lukaku has scored 31 goals in 49 appearances for club and http://www.broncosfootballofficialstore.com/Von_Miller_Jersey country this season, only one of those has come in his nine Premier League matches against the big six.

All in all, Lukaku is shaping up to be a textbook example of a flat-track bully. Except I am no longer sure such a concept exists.

We all instinctively know, of course, that scoring against better teams is harder for everyone. However, when Omar Chaudhuri, the head of football intelligence at 21st Club, analysed 15 years of Premier League scoring data, Demarcus Walker Womens Jersey he found the differences were stark. The average forward scored 0.24 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes against sides finishing in the top six in a given season – pretty much one every four games – compared with 0.37 goals against everyone else. In other words, Womens Austin Seferian-Jenkins Jersey strikers typically score at a 35% lower rate in “big matches” – whether they are good or bad, supreme or indifferent.

Sergio Agüero is a typical case study. While the City striker averages better than a goal every two games against top-six sides excluding penalties (0.52 non‑penalty goals per 90) – better than any striker in the Premier League over the past 15 years – this is 33% lower than his rate against weaker teams (0.78 NP goals per 90).

At the moment Lukaku is a minor outlier – his scoring rate is 52% lower in big matches, worse than any other striker who has scored 80 Premier Vlade Divac Womens Jersey League goals since 2003. But Chaudhuri insists that United fans should not be overly concerned. His data shows there is a very strong positive correlation between goals in “big matches” and “other matches”, so it is not unreasonable to suspect that Lukaku’s cold streak will eventually correct itself.

And Lukaku has done it in big games. During http://www.bearsofficialauthenticstore.com/Akiem_Hicks_Jersey_Cheap his first two full seasons in England he scored eight goals against teams that finished in the top six – and at a higher rate than in “non-big” games.

If you need further convincing that variance matters look at Ronaldo’s early record at United. During his first four years in England, http://www.ravenshopfootballofficial.com/BRONSON-KAUFUSI-JERSEY-CHE... he scored just seven goals in 39 big matches (ie, against a top-six Premier League team or Champions League knockout match). And while he was a winger not a centre-forward, a narrative swiftly took hold: that he underperformed in big games.

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