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Extended Clip - Romelu Lukaku: What The Hell Is Going On At Inter Milan?
1.1k Plays3 years ago
Is Inter Milan Loanee Romelu Lukaku finished at the top level? Should the Nerazzurri avoid extending his loan from Chelsea? Carlo Garganese and Nima Tavallaey debate and discuss.
This is an extended clip from this weeks free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.
To listen to ALL complete episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP and become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
Lukaku's Career Highlights
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Well, let's move on to Romelu Lukaku now, because this, I mean, he's had many, many meme-worthy moments during his career, Romelu Lukaku. But I think there was one moment in this game, it was in the 91st minute, for a lead in 2-1, Gosens picks up, has a throw in by the left corner flag, the Monza corner flag, in the Monza penalty area.
00:00:32
Speaker
He throws it to Lukaku, simple control, and he thinks he comes off his knee and goes straight out of play. I mean, that... And then Jeko's laughing. The camera goes to Jeko, who's on the interbench, and he's absolutely pissing himself. And that's the second time that happened this week, because Cholito Simeone, that happening is not going to. Cholito Simeone was broken on the floor.
00:00:54
Speaker
It's embarrassing. I mean, if there's any one moment that could sum up like the worst of Lukaku's career, it was that moment.
Lukaku's Worst Performance?
00:01:03
Speaker
And if there was any one game that could sum up all the bad things of Lukaku's career, it was this game. And we were chatting after the game, was it? And I raised the question, was this the worst performance by Lukaku in his entire career? And I think potentially it was.
00:01:19
Speaker
Yes, I think he was. I've never seen him. I mean, 35 minutes where he... Again, I don't care about the first touch. That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about not winning a single ball, not being able to hold up the ball. Won no duels, had no shots on goal, didn't create a single chance.
Can Lukaku Succeed Without Conte?
00:01:42
Speaker
The body language on the pitch, jogging around, running into Lautaro Martinez's way a couple of times, it was comedic. It should have been the intro to Curb Your Enthusiasm. That's what you should have been playing. Those 35 minutes should just be on loop, Curb Your Enthusiasm outro. That's how it was. It was embarrassing. It was an absolute embarrassment.
00:02:03
Speaker
And the thing that drives me up the walls is how everyone at Inter is running interference and protecting this guy, saying that, you know, well, you know, he works so hard in training, he'll get it to go. I don't care how hard he works in training. It's clearly not working. Whatever he's doing is not enough. And I think that I'm sorry, but I've come to the conclusion and I hope I'm wrong. I'll gladly raise my hand up and say I'm wrong. I was wrong. I think he's finished at the
Lukaku's Injury and Physical Struggles
00:02:29
Speaker
top level.
00:02:29
Speaker
I think it's obvious that he's finished at the top level. If you look at how young he was when he first burst onto the scene, and if you look at his career, he's always scored goals, but he's only ever been a top-class striker, a world-class striker for two seasons, when he had a drill sergeant in Antonio Conte who told him when to sleep, when to wake up, when to eat, when to shit, when to piss, when to breathe, when to inhale, when to exhale.
00:02:57
Speaker
But Simonian Zag is not going to do that. And no one else is either.
00:03:02
Speaker
And he would have missed the toilet if he went for a shit after this game. Exactly. Like, it's embarrassing. It's absolutely embarrassing. And now, again, we wake up to the news that against Napoli, he complained of an inflammation of a tendon. And he's got an inflammation in his knee, according to Di Marzio. He's going to miss the game against Parma. Look, his body is clearly not working. And I think what Jacques Talbot said when he was on our show last week, we were all a bit taken aback.
00:03:31
Speaker
Yes, I think Saudi Arabia and the MLS is on the cards here, because unless something dramatic, drastic changes over the next two, three months, and I've got to be honest with you, I don't see it. I just don't see it. I see a player that is so... It's like...
00:03:47
Speaker
He's peaked. I think it's again, it's another hand down of its situation. It's another Defry situation. It's a big statement to make that, you know, he's finished. I'm saying he's finished as a world. He will never, ever be a world class number nine. Was he ever a world class number nine? Under Antonio Conte, he was. Under Antonio Conte, those two seasons, he was one of the best number nine. I didn't say he was the best. He was one of the best in the world.
00:04:14
Speaker
And that's why Chelsea paid almost 100 million pounds for him. But but after that, I'm sorry, it's for me, I just don't see it. I don't think it's a mental issue. Or it could be that as well. I mean, he doesn't seem that interested either. You know, he looks like he's I don't know, just I just think he
Impact of Lukaku's Form on Inter's Finances
00:04:32
Speaker
is interested. I think he does want it. I just think that maybe I mean, I raised this question at the beginning of the season, then I said, well, he wants it the same way I want to work for it.
00:04:41
Speaker
Do you remember when I said it at the start of the season and I said, is his body breaking down? I asked that question and I said, well, the next few months we'll answer that question. And I think the results are in. So far, yeah, everything that we've seen from August till January, it does seem like his body is breaking down. And you look at the number of injuries, I think he's had 355 minutes of football this season. He's only scored two goals. One of them is only one in Serie A, one was
00:05:08
Speaker
in the Champions League, in a threat, they were already, was it three or four goals up against Victoria Peltson? Yeah, Victoria Peltson, yeah. And then he got injured immediately afterwards. Yeah, so he really has offered nothing, but he's getting so many injuries. And the problem with Lukaku is, and we've seen this throughout his career, is that he always needs four or five games of 90 minutes in a row.
00:05:35
Speaker
to build up his form because he's such a big guy and he's so big built. You can't just put him in after a period of inactivity and he just gets straight back to his best. It just doesn't work with him. And the problem is he can't get a run of games. He can't get a run of even two, three games in a row because he just keeps getting another little injury.
00:06:00
Speaker
And now he's got this, so he's now got another injury now that's going to set him back even further. It's going to take another four or five games. And it's just, you know, it's just, it's just, it's just a never ending loop really fully. It is an ending loop and, and it's putting inter again.
00:06:16
Speaker
they keep consistently making big losing bets. They placed a big losing bet on Correa, they've placed a big losing bet on Lukaku so far, and Gossens as well, although I think we'll see what happens there.
00:06:32
Speaker
But because I think he's been useful this season when he's played, even though it's a peripheral role. But still, these are the big money, big marquee signings, and they've all pretty much been
Critique of Lukaku's Skills and Fitness
00:06:43
Speaker
flops. It's 0 for 3. And that's unacceptable when you're in Inter's financial situation, when you have that predicament to miss, go 0 for 3. The farmer Lukaku right now looks short in every single area of the game. He looks short.
00:06:55
Speaker
he looks horribly short technically, as bad technically. I mean, he's always been mocked throughout his career for his poor first such a set for a period under Conte, where Conte seemed to almost cure him of that for a while, where he was actually receiving the ball, he was back to goal. Because he was controlling him.
00:07:14
Speaker
which was a miracle really from content but then as soon as he went back to Chelsea he kind of went back to his old ways and then now we've seen even back at Inter I mean his touch this season but his touch in this game wow 15 touches in this game 35 minutes lost it 10 times and you know there was one moment where he missed... Have you ever seen an elephant turn on like BBC World like BBC Earth?
00:07:37
Speaker
that's how it looked like every single time he received the ball have you ever seen an elephant try to try to turn around that's how it looked that's how slow he looked that's how that's how smooth he was it's unbelievable it's just it's not just technically it's it's physically it's technically it's physically it's everything technically physically and
00:07:59
Speaker
Mentally as well. Because mentally, you say he wants it. Yeah, I'm sure he wants it. I mean, he wants it the same way I want a six pack, but I'm not working for it. Like, if he didn't want things, we also got to do something for it. And he's not doing it. Well, I suppose you should mention that actually about not having a six pack because because, you know, in the game against Napoli, he actually looked
00:08:19
Speaker
I thought he did all right against Napoli actually, but against Napoli, he looked as ripped as I've ever seen him. He looked like he'd lost a lot of weight. He didn't look heavy, which he has done earlier on in the season. He looked like it obviously over Christmas, he'd been working really, really hard to lose weight.
00:08:36
Speaker
Then I see him three days later, the space of three days. He's like put on half a stone. I was like, what is going on? I know that some people have got fast metabolism, some have got slow metabolism, but Lukaku, I mean, what is going on? What did he do in the space of three days?
00:08:53
Speaker
He looked bloated and he was just, he looked slow and it was horrible. He blew up the kids. I mean, he was like one of the, I don't want his 80s and 90s. I don't want a fat shame. I don't want a fat shame, but you know, it's not, it's not fat. It's not, we're not, we're not saying fat. We're talking about professional football in here that's getting paid a hell of a lot of money.
00:09:16
Speaker
and you cannot, I'm sorry, you cannot go from looking as ripped as hell against Napoli to three days later looking overweight. I mean, it doesn't, for me, it doesn't make any sense. I mean, I've seen- You were bloated than I do after a three-day bender.