Lukaku

[cjuk87]

The problem is, we're underperforming at the minute, and we need to blame someone.

If the defence did their job against the likes of Arsenal, we wouldn't be having this conversation on such a major worrying scale.

Unfortunately, we've shipped a boatload of goals already...and the striker is getting the blame.

RM has just done his press conf and basically said Lukaku is tired, it happens after the world cup...i've seen people tweeting the everton twitter account back going "well Costa's fine!!"

Costa played in two games, had zero shots on target and had 50 touches!

Summary: People have short memories and it's football to find someone to blame, just unfortunate it's a kid upfront instead of the experienced pros at the back!

 

[Whitey89]

Rom will come good. A lot of pressure on the lads head with that price tag. Given time (even though we cant really wait) he will be scoring goals for fun.

 

[NEC]

The problem is, we're underperforming at the minute, and we need to blame someone.

If the defence did their job against the likes of Arsenal, we wouldn't be having this conversation on such a major worrying scale.

Unfortunately, we've shipped a boatload of goals already...and the striker is getting the blame.

RM has just done his press conf and basically said Lukaku is tired, it happens after the world cup...i've seen people tweeting the everton twitter account back going "well Costa's fine!!"

Costa played in two games, had zero shots on target and had 50 touches!

Summary: People have short memories and it's football to find someone to blame, just unfortunate it's a kid upfront instead of the experienced pros at the back!

I don't think he's getting the blame for the goals conceded although if he was able to look after the ball better then the other team would not get possession. I believe he is getting the blame for poor individual performances.

I think Jags has been rightly getting slated, as has Howard, as has Distin, as has Barry. The thing is - no one is trying to sugar coat the reasons for them playing poorly - it is what it is.

The fear of accepting our £28m super striker isn't quite as super as many dreamed has meant that excuse after excuse has been laid out.

Sore toe
World cup tiredness
Ross Barkley not being in the team
Not playing the ball in front of him
His control has improved from abysmal to really poor
He's 21
He joined us instead of Juventus
He cut his dreadlocks off and lost his powers
He isn't as unlikable as Aiden McGeady

I will end this on a positive note as I am going over old ground. Against Villa he has a real chance to get among the goals. They aren't that good at the back but will work hard. He should get chances and it could really kickstart his season.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Dithering Dougie]

The daily rant of @NEC the arzzole formerly known as @hafnia

 

[NEC]

The daily rant of @NEC the arzzole formerly known as @hafnia

Changed my mind Dougie, i've looked at the facts - he's 21, he scored more goals than Messi at his age, he will be a "beast" and Real Madrid will come in for him with a £58.2m offer next year after he scores 29 goals.

Its all good.

 

[bluemangroup]

Changed my mind Dougie, i've looked at the facts - he's 21, he scored more goals than Messi at his age, he will be a "beast" and Real Madrid will come in for him with a £58.2m offer next year after he scores 29 goals.

Its all good.

Quite a U turn.

 

[Dithering Dougie]

Changed my mind Dougie, i've looked at the facts - he's 21, he scored more goals than Messi at his age, he will be a "beast" and Real Madrid will come in for him with a £58.2m offer next year after he scores 29 goals.

Its all good.

But who's going to enlighten us all now about Lukaku and criticises every facet of his game except the important bit a forward does?

 

[NEC]

Quite a U turn.

You can't beat them join them.

 

[bluemangroup]

You can't beat them join them.

Stand by your principles man.

 

[Kiwi]

Lukaku is not at the races, that's pretty clear. It's unfair to just leave it at that though.

In the argument against him, his touch and awareness are generally poor and he's not aggressive enough. This is a problem because I'm not sure any of this can really be coached into him now.

In his defence, he is quick and he's a fantastic finisher. Will he ever be worth £28m? I don't know, but on his game he's a real asset.

The mitigating circumstances then come into play - He was at the World Cup and had a very disjointed pre-season. Martinez admitted he wasn't fit, but he started the first game of the season and has been in the team ever since because we've had injuries. On top of that, he picked up a foot injury early on and has had to play with that which has visibly affected him, particularly in the earlier games. To add to that, we've not exactly been firing on all cylinders as a side either - lots of our attacking players who would be responsible for creating space and chances for Lukaku have either been injured or badly out of form themselves. He's scored a couple of lovely goals, but if we're all expecting him to become Drogba anytime soon, we'll all be very disappointed - let's be honest, Mourinho would have kept him if that was the case. He has weaker areas of his game, but if we can get him properly fit and surrounded by players creating space and chances for him, he'll score goals. He's done it at every level and wherever he has played in his career and he did it for us last season too. There's no reason to think he won't continue, but you have to temper expectations. Just because we paid £28m for him doesn't mean we're going to see a different player than we saw last season. We won't and there were times last season where his lack of control and being bullied off the ball had me fuming, it'll happen a lot this season too.

Only thing I disagree with. Touch certainly can be taught (and his awareness is there but at times he lacks the finesse to do what he wants to do), and we've seen significant improvements in the consistency of his touch and hold up play, as it has clearly been something he s working on in training. Get Ross and Kev back and we'll see more of a contribution from Rom.

 

[toffeeblue9]

Only thing I disagree with. Touch certainly can be taught (and his awareness is there but at times he lacks the finesse to do what he wants to do), and we've seen significant improvements in the consistency of his touch and hold up play, as it has clearly been something he s working on in training. Get Ross and Kev back and we'll see more of a contribution from Rom.

Touch can be taught at 21?

I'm sceptical about that. I can't think of an example of a player who has a first touch like Lukaku has now, who has then gone on to develop a good touch.

 

[IrishToffee37]

Though I agree that Lukaku deserves some brunt of our frustration, mostly due to his lack of putting in a shift (particularly getting into the box when played out wide), there are a few factors which would influence his (hopefully short) dip in form.

1. Missing Barkley
Now I know this is a seemingly ridiculous point at first glance, given that no one player should influence entirely how another performs, however, it does play a major role in Lukaku's gameplay, as well as our own attacking prowess. Not only does Naismith not offer the same surging power forward that our young superstar to be in terms of technical and clinical competency but at the same time, Naismith's movement around the pitch is that of an entirely different player. He excels in the air and generally running in the right places, essentially he can play a part in an attacking move but a completely other way. It seems more and more of our moves going forward are based on his presence in and around the box. This leaves Lukaku with a more hold-up role which I personally don't think suits him as much as it should a lad of his size and power (mostly due to his less than perfect touch) but his integration play has certainly improved on last year. One could of course argue that surely most of our attacking moves should be based around our 28m striker, which is without doubt sensible and if Lukaku had returned from the World Cup in the form he displayed at times last year then Bobby might've designed a system based more around him. Clearly however he's been struggling to fit into the systems devised around him (out wide etc). Equally Barkley's absence and replacement with Nais means that we don't have much of a passing prowess in the CAM role, which means that Barry and McCarthy are being forced to move up with the ball to create something (furthermore causing trouble for our aging back line)

2. Lack of consistent quality out wide
While it could be argued that Lukaku has been "found out" by opposing defenders, and this is to some extent probably true, the absence of our big players Mirallas and Pienaar out wide and McGeady's clearly fluctuating form and lack of finished product (as an Irishman I've seen it more than most, though I do think his end product has improved somewhat, even if it's a short term purple patch) has affected his play greatly. The lack of attacking threat on the wings mean we can't stretch defences like we could at top form last year. Certainly, Coleman's absence has doubled the effect of this problem

3. Possible fatigue/injury from the WC
I can't say I particularly agree with this point entirely. With the ongoing discussions of Sterling's withdrawal from the last international game it becomes increasingly evident how these powerful players suffer with lack of recovery time. I do think however that there have been games that Rom has played in that he maybe should've have been rested if we had the quality to replace him, these possible respites from our very busy last few weeks might've done the lad the world of good but unfortunately with Kone's infinite absence and Eto'o evidently not fit for playing (otherwise he should've certainly got an hour at least here or there) he's been forced to start.

What I would like to finish on is the fact that, we knew what we had last year, he's not a Suarez who can create goals out of nothing for himself, he's a powerful finisher as expressed in the WBA game, so of course his game relies somewhat on the supply he gets from behind. The rotation of his position as well as the players behind him may have affected in confidence since it's clearly affected his form. (Though I do think Bobby is trying to get the best out of him). I know most of the negative posts here are vents of frustration, and many a time myself I've had to be lent an ear to release the anger that can be caused, but I think with the return of our more positive attacking players, his form will return in time. again, one could argue that at 28m he should be the one dictating the attacks and that we should be worried about his injury affecting our attacks more than anything, just remember that a large proportion of his fee includes his age. We all agree that we wanted Lukaku as a player who's a good player, but will grow to be boss. So maybe in a couple of years time he'll be the one we fear might ever get injured, creating and scoring goals for himself. As much as I understand the idea of demanding the absolute best all the time from our young striker, no striker is perfect, and I'm willing to hedge my bets behind his showings of ability and hope (at the risk of being red-faced in a couple year's time) that it pays off.

 

[Kiwi]

Touch can be taught at 21?

I'm sceptical about that. I can't think of an example of a player who has a first touch like Lukaku has now, who has then gone on to develop a good touch.

It certainly can be. The evidence is there. You watch videos of him last season vs this season and there is a significant improvement.
I had a shocking touch age 20, but worked on it consistently with some good coaches and it hugely improved.
The coaches are there at the club and are some of the best in the world at what they do. I'm sure that with a ready application of himself at the area of weakness he too will continue to improve.

 

[Dithering Dougie]

Touch can be taught at 21?

I'm sceptical about that. I can't think of an example of a player who has a first touch like Lukaku has now, who has then gone on to develop a good touch.

He's inconsistent with his first touch, it's not as if he's devoid of any technique and every ball bounces of him. It's more to do with his concentration and focus all the time during a game, which will of course improve as he matures.

Also of the top of my head I'd say Drogba had an awful first touch when he first came here but by his second season he'd improved his play immeasurably, so lets not pretend it's not possible for players to improve their game as the get more experience.

 

[meagher94]

Of course a good first touch can be taught, why wouldn't it be able to? It's a physical action, it's not like you need a 'football brain' for it. Reading the game the way Barry does for example, can't be taught, in my opinion anyway.

See no reason why his first touch can't improve - and besides it's pretty exaggerated how bad people make his touch out to be anyway. It's very poor sometimes but not as bad as some people make out on here.