Alan Pardew praised Romelu Lukaku’s finishing ability against Swansea but says the Manchester United forward still has areas to improve.
The £90m summer signing from Everton scored his third Premier League goal for Manchester United in two appearances as his new team beat Swansea 4-0 at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
But Lukaku had just 25 outfield touches in the match and Pardew believes he needs to work on his movement to take his game to the next level.
“Lukaku needs to improve at Man Utd on when they regain possession,” Pardew told Sky Sports.
“His movement today was not good enough, to go short or long, to play quick. He needs more of that [movement] and he’ll get more touches.
“There were times when the ball changed hands to United and he was static. He needs to think a little bit quicker but when the chance comes, he doesn’t miss. He’s a great finisher.
“We were talking earlier about [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, Teddy Sheringham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He needs to get some of that cleverness about where to be without the ball.
“He’s at the best place to learn that because he’s going to be watching the videos with Jose Mourinho after the game.”
Fellow Sky Sports analyst Thierry Henry agreed, adding: “That’s something he needs to bring to his game. We all know what he can do.
“If you want to take it to another level at Man Utd – four goals in three official games is remarkable – it is about getting better. He will work on it, he’s with special players and he’s with Mourinho.
“Mourinho will help him to develop that side of the game. We all know he has the one thing that’s most important, when you feed him in the box, he will score.”
Jose Mourinho praised his Manchester United side for the way they controlled the match against Swansea
Henry, who is part of Roberto Martinez’s management team with Belgium, works with Lukuku at international level and believes the striker has the work-rate required to improve.
“Some of the stuff we talk about I won’t share here! But he knows what he needs to do,” Henry said. “That guy is driven, he knows what he wants, he knows what he has to do.
“Let’s not forget, he is still young in the game in terms of playing in a team like United. When you play for Manchester United, it is totally different.
“You play a friendly against LA Galaxy and miss a goal, that goes viral. When he missed a goal in a friendly for Everton, nobody knew about it.
“Now even when you score people say you should do more, that’s the way it is.
“He is strong enough to deal with it, arriving at Man Utd is not easy and he has arrived well. You ask him to score goals and he’s scoring goals.
“We are talking about the future, about what he needs to bring. He has been at United for two minutes and he’s already on four goals. The best is yet to come with Lukaku.”
