Are we a one man team?

[Barnfred 55]

While Rom is here it's a completely moot point though, as we're just doing what is sensible and playing to his strengths.

As and when he leaves the manager and DoF will have to conjure a solution, until that day arrives I'm just happy that he's lashing them in and we're burying sides with consummate ease at home.

And as I said, I don't have a problem with that given the playing staff we have at the moment. But I don't think the attacking players currently in our squad, with the exception of Rom and Ross, are good enough for a sustained challenge at the top 4. If you think they are that's absolutely fine mate.

And I agree, going the game is so much better than last season. Loving the way we're seeing teams off late on in games and credit the players for buying in to RKs fitness demands. It's obviously paying off big time.

 

[Khalekan]

You have to hand it to @davek

Here we all are arguing about whether or not we are suffering because our top striker sits on 20 goals with quarter of the season left to play lol

Take a bow, Dave.

This place would be a lot duller without you

 

[WA Toffee]

Well that's it. Of course.

It's a danger to leave yourself so overexposed to the danger of massive restructuring though. We needed a manager to have the foresight to bring in and blood a decent attacking player this season - bring in and out of the team in readiness for the overwhelmingly likely departure of Lukaku.

There's been no forward planning and we'll pay for that if/when Lukaku goes this summer.

You really think we are currently able to bring in a striker of that calibre to play as understudy?
Any suggestions as to who that player might have been?

 

[davek]

If you can try and put aside for one moment some of his silly arguments and underlying anti Koeman agenda, Dave does actually have a point here. We are overly reliant on Lukaku's goals, and it is something that we need to address going forward.

For the moment however, RK needs to play the cards he has been dealt. The simple fact is that we don't have any depth of quality in our attacking options. We have an absolutely top class striker in Rom, and a potentially world class playmaker in Ross, who is finally finding some consistency. Apart from that we have a small number of average premier league standard players and some young potential in DCL and Lookman.

RK has realised that to get the best out of the team this year he has no option but to concentrate on playing to the strengths of our top class striker. The dangers of this are that we lose that striker (either to injury of transferred out) and that the opposition will know how to defend against us. However, Rom is that good that the latter is not so easy to achieve.

Hopefully we will still be able to keep hold of Lukaku during the summer. Even if we do, it is absolutely imperative that we bring in a good quality second striker and a quality goal scoring attacking midfielder/playmaker, if we are serious about mounting a challenge on the top 4 next season. The latter HAS to be a set piece specialist too. Our corners and set pieces are, on the whole, dreadful.

So yes, we are too reliant on Lukaku this season, but the focus next year should be to bring in people to add to his goal tally, not to share in it.

I too think that Davek has made a good point and one that is obvious, at least to me.
EFC's attack is basically Rom.. and er.. that's it.
Rom never gets injured..he still plays for long periods on his jack and gets little support (v. Spurs away). Miralles is average and would not get a spot in the Top 6 teams. In fact EFC's attack is its weakest link and now that Del
has gone there is no one who can really do something out of the ordinary. In recent games Barkley has shown some spark but I'd say Coleman has been our second best attacker this season.

These two lads get it. The thread was started not to attack the number of goals we score, but to point out the overwhelmingly skewed source of those goals and what it will mean if/when we lose a player we've built our goal getting on for the past four seasons...this season more so than ever.

Of course, those who see it as an attack on their chubby Dutch hero wont countenance it as a problem so the messenger must be attacked instead.

When Lukaku goes and we're struggling to get an attacking game together next season no doubt the same people will be screaming about how we should have been preparing for the day Lukaku left.

 

[Connor]

These two lads get it. The thread was started not to attack the number of goals we score, but to point out the overwhelmingly skewed source of those goals and what it will mean if/when we lose a player we've built our goal getting on for the past four seasons...this season more so than ever.

Of course, those who see it as an attack on their chubby Dutch hero wont countenance it as a problem so the messenger must be attacked instead.

When Lukaku goes and we're struggling to get an attacking game together next season no doubt the same people will be screaming about how we should have been preparing for the day Lukaku left.

Hahahahahaha

 

[f.t.r.s]

How many of Roms goals are purely individual goals? How many of these strikes would not have been converted by a decent striker?
How many of the goals created involving him would have been scored involving a decent striker?
Answer that and you have the answer to the thread

 

[davek]

You really think we are currently able to bring in a striker of that calibre to play as understudy?
Any suggestions as to who that player might have been?

No mate, but we should at the very least have brought in an attacker who could take up a second striker/playmaker role who would be in the club ready to strike up a partnership with any new primary choice striker should that be required.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Of course, those who see it as an attack on their chubby Dutch hero wont countenance it as a problem so the messenger must be attacked instead.

The 'messenger' was looking for a fresh angle, as the above comment confirms.

It's hardly a startling revelation that if we lost the PL's top goalscorer it'd leave us with a massive hole to fill ffs.

 

[arch stanton]

we have the leagues highest number of goal scorers, Rom is smashing them in, lots of others are chipping in with goals. We are almost scoring for fun at the moment. I fail to see what the problem is. If Rom wasn't in the team, whoever his replacement would be would also score some, we really know how to roll around in the depths of despair even when things are relatively good.

 

[squonk]

we have the leagues highest number of goal scorers, Rom is smashing them in, lots of others are chipping in with goals. We are almost scoring for fun at the moment. I fail to see what the problem is. If Rom wasn't in the team, whoever his replacement would be would also score some, we really know how to roll around in the depths of despair even when things are relatively good.

We ?

 

[Jebus_lives]

These two lads get it. The thread was started not to attack the number of goals we score, but to point out the overwhelmingly skewed source of those goals and what it will mean if/when we lose a player we've built our goal getting on for the past four seasons...this season more so than ever.

Of course, those who see it as an attack on their chubby Dutch hero wont countenance it as a problem so the messenger must be attacked instead.

When Lukaku goes and we're struggling to get an attacking game together next season no doubt the same people will be screaming about how we should have been preparing for the day Lukaku left.

I dont think people misunderstand the intention of the thread, they either just dont agree with it or quite rightly point out that we are, under Koeman, providing Lukaku with opportunity to score and using him as the focus for our attacks, giving him the highest total of goals hes scored in the premier league in an season and a feat one players hasnt managed at Everton since the 80's.

Where they tend to find issue is when you say things like 'chubby Dutch hero' about the manager of the club thats currently got his team losing only 1 game in 2017. The main issue this season is: are Lukaku's goals enough to get us into 5th rather than are they enough to stop us getting relegated?

What will happen if we lose Lukaku...we will use the money we get from him to go and buy 1 or 2 new strikers who might not equal the number of goals that Lukaku scores but will see us still competitive.

Lets not forget we had our higest Premier League finish (point totals dont count as much as position does sorry!) in a season where we had Marcus Bent as our main striker.

 

[arch stanton]

We ?

yeah sorry, not all of us.

 

[davek]

The 'messenger' was looking for a fresh angle, as the above comment confirms.

It's hardly a startling revelation that if we lost the PL's top goalscorer it'd leave us with a massive hole to fill ffs.

It was as much about what the rest of our attack does (or doesn't) as much as what Lukaku obviously achieves.

But that's "an irrelevancy" because we can get one or to from elsewhere off other players.

There's been a surreal reaction from many to this thread. It was meant to point out (yes an obvious enough) point about how out of whack our set up is, goals wise, but also to ask what can be done to bring it back to some sort of balance.

Maybe if some were a little bit more secure about their own views on the manager they might take genuine debate for what it is.

 

[davek]

I dont think people misunderstand the intention of the thread, they either just dont agree with it or quite rightly point out that we are, under Koeman, providing Lukaku with opportunity to score and using him as the focus for our attacks, giving him the highest total of goals hes scored in the premier league in an season and a feat one players hasnt managed at Everton since the 80's.

Where they tend to find issue is when you say things like 'chubby Dutch hero' about the manager of the club thats currently got his team losing only 1 game in 2017. The main issue this season is: are Lukaku's goals enough to get us into 5th rather than are they enough to stop us getting relegated?

What will happen if we lose Lukaku...we will use the money we get from him to go and buy 1 or 2 new strikers who might not equal the number of goals that Lukaku scores but will see us still competitive.

Lets not forget we had our higest Premier League finish (point totals dont count as much as position does sorry!) in a season where we had Marcus Bent as our main striker.

That's fair comment.

 

[squonk]

yeah sorry, not all of us.

only one sir, only one.