Are we a one man team?

[Khalekan]

I think we're sixth in the league in terms of scoring overall, and sixth in the league in goals coming from players who aren't the club's top scorer. So that indicates we aren't really a one man team.

lol


Who the heck sits and works these things out

I bet the RAWK boys would make some hay with those kind of Alternative League Tables, Mike

 

[Mountfield1985]

I dont know whether it's the way we are set up to play in terms of committing less bodies to attack this season, or whether outside of Lukaku are players just aren't confident enough to get up the field and score on a regular basis or a combination of both, but something is very much out of whack in terms of balance, and with the summer looming it is a feature of this team that needs sorting out asap because it is no basis whatsoever for progress.

Thoughts?

It is with a heavy heart, that I must announce that Dave is at it again.

Two stats you failed to mention here Davo:

- We've scored 8 more goals than at this stage of 2013/14 - (your season of seasons with dream attacking football.)

- No other club in the premier league this season has more different goalscorers than we do.

 

[hallamblue]

lol


Who the heck sits and works these things out

I bet the RAWK boys would make some hay with those kind of Alternative League Tables, Mike

The RS Echo did, they did a table without top scorers, guess who was top!

 

[gav1985]

Shambles of a thread this. We most certainly aren't a one man team. As has already been said we have the most number of different scorers in the league this season. We just happen to have a very very good striker who scores loads of goals.

Another agenda driven thread that can be blown away by cold hard facts.

 

[Khalekan]

The RS Echo did, they did a table without top scorers, guess who was top!

lol

 

[WA Toffee]

The team is imbalanced from an attacking point of view. Lose Lukaku and we need to restructure the whole organisation. This is about the present mate, not the past. If you think we're going to easily ride out any sale of Lukaku then fine. I personally think he'll leave a yawning gap that will take a couple of seasons to fill.

I think the attack is well balanced at the moment, and it is showing in the amount of goals we are scoring (while still maintaining clean sheets).
Yes, of course things will need a restructure if Lukaku leaves, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. (As you mention above, this is about the present) At the moment, you would have to say the manager is playing a blinder by getting the best out of the forward line while still maintaining a solid back line.

 

[davek]

No, we don't need Rom "sharing the wealth", Dave.

We want him scoring at his current rate......probably be about 26 goals or more by season's end.

But we need Ross and Mirallas weighing in with those 10 and 8 respectively as well.

The year Lineker spired his 30 league goals he never shared the wealth......he just kept banging them in.

But Sharp scored 19 and Heath about 10 or sommat.

Plus Sheedy and Steven were around 10 as well.

We need a striker scoring for fun but his teammates scoring regularly themselves.

That's what I call fire power

It's a good comparison actually. The Lineker season is generally regarded as failure precisely because, in the final analysis, playing to one man's attacking strengths meant we ignored the importance of others in the team to get amongst the goals. When we reverted back the season after we had Steven, Sheedy, Heath and Sharp all on song and hitting the mid-teens in terms of goals scored and it felt like it was a team effort. And Koeman is playing Lukaku the same way as Kendall used Lineker: trying to get him away from deep with plenty of foot races with last defenders.

We look imbalanced.

 

[davek]

It is with a heavy heart, that I must announce that Dave is at it again.

Two stats you failed to mention here Davo:

- We've scored 8 more goals than at this stage of 2013/14 - (your season of seasons with dream attacking football.)

- No other club in the premier league this season has more different goalscorers than we do.

You missed the point: the point is that if we lose him next season we are so poor elsewhere in terms of players who can score on a regular basis that we'd have to purchase a player to replace him who gave us this volume of goals we now get from Lukaku...and that is a massive reach.

We dont have any worthy second striker or #10 in the team or winger who gets a lot of goals who we could realistically turn to and ask to take up some of the slack for a new number one striker coming into the club.

It's a major organisational problem. We are disjointed in terms of overall goal contribution. And dont look to the ones and twos scored elsewhere in the team to make up the gap because when Lukaku is taken out that gap is a chasm.

 

[Khalekan]

It's a good comparison actually. The Lineker season is generally regarded as failure precisely because, in the final analysis, playing to one man's attacking strengths meant we ignored the importance of others in the team to get amongst the goals. When we reverted back the season after we had Steven, Sheedy, Heath and Sharp all on song and hitting the mid-teens in terms of goals scored and it felt like it was a team effort. And Koeman is playing Lukaku the same way as Kendall used Lineker: trying to get him away from deep with plenty of foot races with last defenders.

We look imbalanced.

Dave...it is a ridiculous comparison and I have debunked this fallacious, nonsensical argument on numerous occasions.

Please don't make me do it again

Suffice it to say and from memory alone, I think in the Lineker season we scored about 10 more goals than in the subsequent season in which we won the title and only one less than the previous season when we were also crowned champions

Only at Everton would fans put failure to win the league down to our main striker scoring 30 goals

And don't forget.....Sharp scored 19 league goals himself.....an excellent return from a striker in its own right.

And little Inchy weighed in with 10 from limited appearances.

And I will say it again.

Our problem this season is not that Rom has scored 20 goals.....it is that the second highest goalscorer has only bagged four

 

[Mountfield1985]

You missed the point: the point is that if we lose him next season we are so poor elsewhere in terms of players who can score on a regular basis that we'd have to purchase a player to replace him who gave us this volume of goals we now get from Lukaku...and that is a massive reach.

We dont have any worthy second striker or #10 in the team or winger who gets a lot of goals who we could realistically turn to and ask to take up some of the slack for a new number one striker coming into the club.

It's a major organisational problem. We are disjointed in terms of overall goal contribution. And dont look to the ones and twos scored elsewhere in the team to make up the gap because when Lukaku is taken out that gap is a chasm.

No. You were moaning about not committing enough bodies forward this seasons, and players being scared to get into scoring positions. Which is nonsense. Because the goals are flying in and we have more goalscorers than any other team in the Premier League.

We aren't relying too heavily on Lukaku anymore. Goals are being spread around brilliantly.

Yes it'd be nice if we had an extra player who added 10-15 goals to Lukakus 20+. I hope we get one. Then you are looking at a team who are title contenders.

 

[davek]

Dave...it is a ridiculous comparison and I have debunked this fallacious, nonsensical argument on numerous occasions.

Please don't make me do it again

Suffice it to say and from memory alone, I think in the Lineker season we scored about 10 more goals than in the subsequent season in which we won the title and only one less than the previous season when we were also crowned champions

Only at Everton would fans put failure to win the league down to our main striker scoring 30 goals

And don't forget.....Sharp scored 19 league goals himself.....an excellent return from a striker in its own right.

And little Inchy weighed in with 10 from limited appearances.

And I will say it again.

Our problem this season is not that Rom has scored 20 goals.....it is that the second highest goalscorer has only bagged four

The common denominator is how the team was set up to play. We used Lineker/Lukaku as an arrow head. I understand why, because each are that good they could/can handle the pressure of the role. I dont think it necessarily has anything to do with the number scored in any one season that makes matters healthy. You can score more with a talisman striker and still lose or less and still win. For example, goals scored by Everton either side of Lineker when we won two titles:


1984/85 88 goals
1985/86 85 goals
1986/87 76 goals

There's a mindset amongst the team that if things need fixing you have a go to man for the job when you have a Lineker/Lukaku player.

It's gone on too long: we need better quality players up around Lukaku. The last time we looked like a balanced attack was in RMs first season with a trident of Lukaku/Mirallas/Barkley hurtling upfield together and steamrollering opposition.

 

[davek]

No. You were moaning about not committing enough bodies forward this seasons, and players being scared to get into scoring positions. Which is nonsense. Because the goals are flying in and we have more goalscorers than any other team in the Premier League.

We aren't relying too heavily on Lukaku anymore. Goals are being spread around brilliantly.

Yes it'd be nice if we had an extra player who added 10-15 goals to Lukakus 20+. I hope we get one. Then you are looking at a team who are title contenders.

He's scored 42% of our goals and had a key involvement in 53% of them.

No, of course we dont rely too heavily on him.

 

[davek]

I think the attack is well balanced at the moment, and it is showing in the amount of goals we are scoring (while still maintaining clean sheets).
Yes, of course things will need a restructure if Lukaku leaves, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. (As you mention above, this is about the present) At the moment, you would have to say the manager is playing a blinder by getting the best out of the forward line while still maintaining a solid back line.

This is entirely the reason I started the thread. If/when Lukaku leaves we have a massive headache replacing him and more so because we have no able deputies upfront to place weight on for any new striker coming in to get on their game.

The system we adopt is purely to service one man...hence the title of the thread. And we are a one man team. There is no question about it in my opinion. We need to evolve away from this asap.

 

[orly]

This is entirely the reason I started the thread. If/when Lukaku leaves we have a massive headache replacing him and more so because we have no able deputies upfront to place weight on for any new striker coming in to get on their game.

The system we adopt is purely to service one man...hence the title of the thread. And we are a one man team. There is no question about it in my opinion. We need to evolve away from this asap.

Interesting statistic - not one of the top 5 Premier League goal scorers in every season since '92 was bought for more than £65m by their Premier League club.

That suggests that we can take that money, go abroad, spend the spondaloodalies, and still get a good player.

 

[WA Toffee]

This is entirely the reason I started the thread. If/when Lukaku leaves we have a massive headache replacing him and more so because we have no able deputies upfront to place weight on for any new striker coming in to get on their game.

The system we adopt is purely to service one man...hence the title of the thread. And we are a one man team. There is no question about it in my opinion. We need to evolve away from this asap.

I think we need to evolve away from it when he goes. Until then, play to his strengths.