Lukaku revealed as top influencer in our new match data stats

Saturday 02 March 2019 19:15

Romelu Lukaku’s brilliant second-half double helped secure a Man of the Match award on our official app as the Belgian picked up an overwhelming 72 per cent of the votes and our new look stats re-affirm that the fans were right.

Andreas Pereira, who picked up 21 per cent of the votes cast, cancelled out Yan Valerie’s sensational strike with a sublime effort of his own before Lukaku put us ahead with a confident finish after great work from substitute and our third placed Man of the Match nominee Diego Dalot, who scooped 7 per cent. James Ward-Prowse levelled the game up again with a curling free-kick before Lukaku grabbed the headlines with a last-gasp winner.

The facts also point to Lukaku being the standout performer with Rom being our top influencer with a score of 99 per cent in our new innovative real-time match data stats provided by Opta.

You can view these stats in our app by clicking the football pitch icon in the top right corner.

The match data stats also reveal that Lukaku’s shooting accuracy was measured at 80 per cent having converted two of his five shots, with four on target. He also had seven touches in the opposition box and created one chance for his team-mates with Pereira being the player he combined with the most.

Lukaku crossed the ball three times and was involved in 16 duels which was the most for United. He also clearly worked his socks off covering nearly 9 km and had a total of 15 sprints – only Marcus Rashford completed more with 16.

Lukaku spoke to MUTV after the game and admitted that the Reds showed "character’" in the victory over Southampton.

“It’s a great win for us. We started really well in the first 15 minutes and created a lot of chances, but the ball didn’t want to go in. Then they scored, but we knew we would win the game as long as we scored early in the second half,” he said.

“We scored, then I scored and when they made it 2-2 it was all about showing character and still having the quality to make the difference and that’s what we did.”
Video
Lukaku scored both goals with his unfavoured right foot, but the striker insists he is confident on either foot as he practices constantly in training.

“If you look throughout my career, I think I’m well balanced with my right and left and also headed goals so for me shooting with my right foot or with my left is practically the same. So when the ball fell there I didn’t hesitate,” he continued.

“I know what I can do, I work hard on it with the coaching staff every day and it’s all about believing in your ability as well. As long as you put the work in, why have fear, you can just pull the trigger.

“The last seven or eight years I’ve been working so hard on that and as soon as I realised I would score such an amount of goals with my right and my left foot I kept working hard on both.”

Alexis injury concern for Reds

 Article

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided an update on Alexis Sanchez after he was forced off at Old Trafford.

Lukaku paid credit to his manager who he said is challenging and guiding the players every day.

“People were saying we were dead and buried [for the top four] but we have spirit and we have quality players that can step up," he concluded.

“We need to keep raising our level and the manager is challenging us every day. Credit to him for having a plan and guiding us because we have a young group, but we are hungry and we show desire every single day and the hard work is paying off.”

Reading this in our app? If not, you might miss some exclusive features not found on ManUtd.com. Download the Official App here.

Recommended: