Manchester United Fan View: Romelu Lukaku is delivering on all counts

Because of the huge sum of money Manchester United paid to bring Romelu Lukau to Old Trafford his return of six goals in his first six games has been met with nods of expectation rather than hyperbolic predictions of where his strikes might eventually lead the club.

The fact that none of Lukaku’s goals have been out of the ordinary, or truly spectacular, has contributed to this muted response. Instead, they’ve ranged from towering headers to powerful drives and rebounds. Basically they have been the same sort of goals that he was scoring for Everton on a regular basis over the last couple of years.

That’s exactly what Manchester United wanted from him, though. Last season United weren’t able to break down sides, and they quickly became panicked in their pathetic attempts to do so. But with the bigger, stronger, smarter, quicker, more instinctive and ruthless Lukakau as their attacking spearhead United suddenly seem more patient and capable. Lukaku has taken it upon himself to score United’s goals, seemingly doing so at will. Against Everton he struck to instantly silence the away fans that had laughed at his failed free-kick, then at Southampton he got the integral goal that secured a tight victory United simply wouldn’t have achieved last season.

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Lukaku is so dependable that his goals have almost become predictable. So much so that it is his misses that have drawn the most attention. While the eyebrows raised by his penalty miss against Leicester City were quickly lowered by United’s subsequent victory, the fact that he failed to convert a late golden chance that would have turned the draw at Stoke into a win was seen by some as proof that there are still hurdles for him to overcome.

Of course, it also helps that Manchester United’s opponents have possessed defences that Lukaku has found easy to beat. The Belgian even managed to net when he was suffocated by Stoke’s backline, and while he will hopefully face sterner Champions League tests than Basel the fact that he managed to score his first goal for United in this competition at the first time of asking means the pressure is immediately off.

After scoring against Southampton Lukaku equalled Louis Saha’s Manchester United record of scoring six times in his first six games, which means that no-one can question his start. Unfortunately, though, Lukaku will only silence his critics once he has scored against United’s main rivals. If, come the end of the season, he has fired to United to Premier League glory then that should do, too.