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Lukaku

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I wouldn't quite say he's a poacher but he's got the ability to score even when he's not playing to well.

He's not perfect by any stretch but he's a goalscorer and a pretty good one at that, with plenty of time to grow.

Getting Eto'o here was a masterstroke by Martinez, not only for massively improving the quality of our strikers but for taking the pressure off Lukaku and showing him what a complete forward player is.

Best strike force we've had in beards, this.
 
tim cahill said:
What makes you think that isn't exactly what he's been told to do? You act like naismith's been snatching chances off lukaku.
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Well, when Martinez deploys people on the right or left none of them end up being our furthest player forward, so I doubt Martinez has a special roving remit for Naismith.

Imo, what's happened now is that Barkley's return and Eto'o returning to match fitness has presented Martinez with a headache about what to do with Naismith. He knows it'd be harsh to bench him, so he's started playing him wide. Unfortunately, as many of us know, Naismith simply does not have the disciple or skill for the wide role and his tendency is to drift further and further infield and forward as the game unfolds.

As said. I hold m hands up and concede he's good enough for this level, but that doesn't mean his continued place in the starting line up adds to our effort. IMO, it's a chaotic input way too many times....no more so than on the form of Lukaku.
 

Dozbik said:
Well, it's up to Roberto to decide who to play then. Naisy is clearly uncomfortable playing on the wing and I can see why, he's not a winger and neither is Rom. Naisy has neither the pace nor the technique to beat players 1v1. His strengths couldn't be utilized outside. Three of our four attacking players were basically strikers. I'm pretty sure Bobby must've told him to move inside when he had the chance, because that's where he belongs and we all know that. Obviously we don't have Kevin now, but if there's absolutely no organization in our offense than go give Stevie P or Aids a chance who can play the supporter role better than Naisy, but Aids is inconsistent whereas Pienaar is of little use in large patches of the game. His work ethic is commendable, but he doesn't pose such a threat on the goal as our Scotsman does.
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Agree with most of that.

The question for me is this: do you stay loyal to a player who's grabbed four goals and who can play a reasonable link up game in the centre of the park, or do you bench him in an effort to return to the type of pacy performances up front we had last season when Lukaku was undisputed leader of the line, Barkley tucked in behind and pace on the flanks?

For me, we have only just got ourselves moving through the gears again since Barkley's return and Eto'o making his presence felt. Naismith has been a peripheral figure in that mini renaissance and that answers the riddle for me.
 
davek said:
Well, when Martinez deploys people on the right or left none of them end up being our furthest player forward, so I doubt Martinez has a special roving remit for Naismith.

Imo, what's happened now is that Barkley's return and Eto'o returning to match fitness has presented Martinez with a headache about what to do with Naismith. He knows it'd be harsh to bench him, so he's started playing him wide. Unfortunately, as many of us know, Naismith simply does not have the disciple or skill for the wide role and his tendency is to drift further and further infield and forward as the game unfolds.

As said. I hold m hands up and concede he's good enough for this level, but that doesn't mean his continued place in the starting line up adds to our effort. IMO, it's a chaotic input way too many times....no more so than on the form of Lukaku.
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I'm pretty sure that Martinez likes his formations to be fluid. We basically had a front 3 today and in that formation there is no harm in a wide man being high up the pitch or moving inside. The positions that Coleman was taking up for most of the game where far higher up the pitch than normal as well. It's not like he wanted to be a RM in a 4-4-2 formation. That's the way I saw it anyway.

To assume it's down to a lack of discipline is strange considering his attitude his 2nd to none.
 
tim cahill said:
I'm pretty sure that Martinez likes his formations to be fluid. We basically had a front 3 today and in that formation there is no harm in a wide man being high up the pitch or moving inside. The positions that Coleman was taking up for most of the game where far higher up the pitch than normal as well. It's not like he wanted to be a RM in a 4-4-2 formation. That's the way I saw it anyway.

To assume it's down to a lack of discipline is strange considering his attitude his 2nd to none.
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His overwhelming drive is to get on the scoresheet (because he's a second striker, it's instinct). That's not a bad attitude, obviously. But if it detracts from the shape of the team it can be a problem.

On Coleman: I thought he had a very quite game. He got on one of his runs very seldom today because there was no one there for him to overlap/underlap and receive a pass from...that's where Naismith should have been.
 

davek said:
His overwhelming drive is to get on the scoresheet (because he's a second striker, it's instinct). That's not a bad attitude, obviously. But if it detracts from the shape of the team it can be a problem.

On Coleman: I thought he had a very quite game. He got on one of his runs very seldom today because there was no one there for him to overlap/underlap and receive a pass from...that's where Naismith should have been.
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If he was stuck on the right all game then he might not have found Lukaku for his goal though!;)
 
I reckon his big "fault", i.e his lay off play is highlighted simply because of the fact that for his age he is so absolutely outstanding in other parts of his game.

Do you remember what it used to be like at Everton? We had strikers who you knew would go 4-5 matches between slotting. Marcus Bent, James Beattie, Saha, Jelavic the list goes on.

Now we have Lukaku who looks and feels like a potent goal threat every time he plays.
 
The media have driven this to a large extent.

Chelsea's striking problems last year with Torres (lol), Eto'o who started slow and Demba Ba who was unutilised until about January made him look very very good in comparison. Bear in mind that after an explosive start with us he went off the boil for about two months, scoring once (Soton home I think) then getting crocked and notplaying till March where he again scored some big goals. Since the world cup he's obviously been playing through a minor injury and not been 100% because he's not been willing to use his physicality as much as before.

The hype at the start of last season was typical ofthe press. In his West Brom season he usually started at 60-70mins off the bench and had made 6 starts by December I remember reading, for us the season after it was 15 and it will be more this season.

He now has the full expectation that a £28 million striker demands. Welbeck wasn't scoring like he was at 21, neither was Sturridge, neither was Drogba, neither was Costa, neither was Pelle, neither was Falcao - and so on! Even when he is anonymous he scores. Already this season his link up play has improved.

I've defended him before on here because people expect him to be the finished product all of the time. The media did the same to Jack Wilshere on the back of a (yes great) game against Barca and now are upset when he's not a hybrid of Pirlo and Baggio every game. In a few months they'll start doing it to Barkley. They've already started on Sterling. Berahino is the latest the machine is hyping and in a sense Stones injury has taken some of the hype away. So don't let yourself be bought into the machine that constantly elevates, very talented but raw youngsters to a level they can't possibly fulfil for several years hence
 
not a bad thing having a young lad who can score even while not playing as well as he can, supposed to be carring a foot injury most of the season as well.
He will do for me faults and all only going to learn and get better.
 

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