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One of the biggest mistakes many Manchester United fans made was undervaluing a "flat-track bully". Lukaku may have not been the right man after all but a striker scoring against "smaller teams" is incredibly useful to any top side and United are feeling that now.
They often quoted "[number] in [number] against the Big 6" as a response to things but now they should recognised - if they are humble - the value of what they were rejecting: the goals against the smaller teams and the ratio of them being scored.
In his first season at the club, Romelu Lukaku scored 27 goals with 9 assists in 51 games and that was under an extremely defensive Mourinho side which many fans criticised. Yet, at the same time, they undervalued the importance of those goals. 27?! That was incredible.
In the Premier League, he had 15 goals and 4 assists in 24 games against the non-Big-6 opposition. Yet, this was completely disregarded. Again, I am not referring to his quality per se, his weight gain, etc., I understand these things. I am referring to that record of his.
A "flat-track bully" is always useful in any teams but Manchester United fans, as per usual, created a narrative of strikers having to score in against "Big 6" opposition even though Mourinho's tactics in those games often isolated Lukaku anyway.
In modern-day football, there is a large emphasis on the wrong things in my view. Strikers are there to score goals. This is their fundamental purpose. Now, they can either do that themselves or they can set others up. However, doing neither "but playing well" is insufficient.
Football is about mastering the basics and many fans have forgotten about the basics in favour of narratives. In Lukaku's case his raw goal-scoring record spoke for itself but was disregarded. Now, fans should recognise what they are missing from that 2017-18 Lukaku especially.
Lastly, do not misunderstand what I'm saying and creating your own interpretation of my words. Lukaku was not the right player at the end of the day. However, his record was the right one. His goals against the smaller teams were important. THAT is what needed to be replaced.
