Lukaku

[Tubey]

Still can't take issue with any of his comments.

If he didn't show ambition, I'd be livid.
If he was a passenger/willing to play out wide, I'd be livid.

All the quotes do for me is raise more questions towards the manager. Invests big in a player, then plays him where the player himself isn't happy - not to mention the fans.

Barkley, Baines, Garbutt, Eto'o... How many players have had the same problem this season?!

"I expect to play for a club performing at a greater level than we did last season - next season it's up to me and the lads to make sure we do that. I'm an ambitious man and I want to win trophies sooner rather than later, and I'm out to prove that I have the quality to do just that at the top level of the game."

Wouldn't have had a problem with that ^. Not bothered about his comments about the manager or his position (although he rarely played out wide).

 

[Smiggs]

Find me a better striker who would play for us at the moment, we've had nothing but rubbish over the years he's the best we've had altho some would rather have beckford than rom which is worrying

 

[Dario Terracotta]

It would be even more encouraging if he held his hands up and admitted he has plenty of faults in his own game and needs to work to eradicate them

Is right mate,a lot of flaws in his game,but his record in front of goal stands up,I'm still split on him,if we could recoup the dough we could potentially bring two very decent forwards in,then on the other hand I could see him going and scoring a shedload of goals at another club,who'd be a manager eh?lol

 

[Tony1985]

Tbf he hasn't had a good season, he talks like he should be starting for barca, he should be getting his head down and working hard on his game instead of having this deluded self entitlement that he should be starting at a big club.

I'm a lukaku fan but if you look at the stats, 32 appearances 4 by sub, 10 goals which 2 were pens isn't great for someone who thinks he's the complete striker.

As for the no service, take a look at Ings (burnly) Austin (qpr) diouf (Stoke) berahinio (wba) cisse (Newcastle) they all scored more premier league goals than him with weaker squads, 2 Spurs midfielders out scored him to.

Tbf he does have the potential to be class and I admire his ambition. He just needs to do it on the pitch rather than chat about it

 

[KevMirallas]

So when Benteke says he wants to play in Europe, are we supposed to think that he just wants to work really hard and get Villa into the top six, or that he wants move?

We all know why Lukaku is saying this stuff, and it's probably the same reason he changed agents midway through the season.

My problem with Lukaku, and Mirallas too to a certain extent, is they talk about ambition more than they demonstrate it on the field. Too many players want something for nothing at the moment.

My concerns with Martinez are offset by my expectation that a few decent signings this window will mean he never has to play players out of position again. Lukaku is right that he played wide too often this season (even though it wouldn't have been more than half a dozen times), but pissing off with the national team and slagging off the manager is never a good look, ever.

 

[Khalekan]

But he clearly has been working on the things that he's bad at, he's worked on his hold up play and worked on his positioning, both of which have improved over this season.

"clearly"

As clear as mud, Aaron.

His first touch in particuular never improved much, if at all, over the season Aaron.

No matter what way anyone cuts it, Rom was a big disappointment last season and it would be good to think he had the self awareness to admit it to himself.

Probably he won't though as he will have a posse of advisers telling him how great he is and Everton's regression was bugger all to do with him.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

To jog memories - 7th January;

https://www.grandoldteam.com/2015/01/07/lukaku-reveals-request-play-direct/

Romelu Lukaku has revealed that he and his teammates have asked Roberto Martinez to “play more direct”

Earlier the week, club icon Andy Gray was highly critical of Roberto Martinez’ playing style, explaining “If I was Romelu Lukaku I would seriously be knocking on the gaffer’s door and saying ‘Seriously, is any chance of me getting in the game more often because I never see the football’?”.

And Romelu Lukaku has explained he done just that.

Lukaku: “The players were asking about going more direct. I asked them, and we all said to the manager: ‘Can we play a bit more direct sometimes?’ We have a style of play where we keep the ball a lot, but knew we needed to take more responsibility, play to my strengths more, and they did it perfectly.

“We mixed up how we played a bit more, at times we were a bit more direct. For me that makes it easier, because when I am one v one, running on a defender, that gives me a better chance.”

“After two games on the bench I knew it was time to react,” he said. “I wanted to show the manager how he can count on me. I wanted to show it was just a temporary thing, and now I am ready to move on and push myself to the limit. I want to win silverware, I want to end up as high as we can in the league and we have five months to do that. I just want to play my best football now.”

“The manager said I can go on a run of goals now and I’ll be doing my best to do that. I want to play to the maximum and show he can rely on me.”

 

[Furey1878]

Still can't take issue with any of his comments.

If he didn't show ambition, I'd be livid.
If he was a passenger/willing to play out wide, I'd be livid.

All the quotes do for me is raise more questions towards the manager. Invests big in a player, then plays him where the player himself isn't happy - not to mention the fans.

Barkley, Baines, Garbutt, Eto'o... How many players have had the same problem this season?!

In the case of Lukaku on the wing, it worked against Arsenal twice with respect to playing on the counter. The only other games I can think were he played out wide were both derbies and United away. I can't really have a go at the manager over a tactic that worked 2/5 times.

Also, Garbutt was never played out of position., but understand his comments about a new formation taking the players by surprise.

But yeah, agreed in the cases of Eto'o and Barkley on the wings.

 

[CahillsCornerFlag]

He signed for us to play every game and put himself back in the shop window for a champions league team, I don't think that should surprise anyone. He's also not wrong about wanting to win something, why not, we're good enough to win a cup. All these comments coming out about the manager are worrying though. Needs to get his act together.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

In the case of Lukaku on the wing, it worked against Arsenal twice with respect to playing on the counter. The only other games I can think were he played out wide were both derbies and United away. I can't really have a go at the manager over a tactic that worked 2/5 times.

Also, Garbutt was never played out of position., but understand his comments about a new formation taking the players by surprise.

But yeah, agreed in the cases of Eto'o and Barkley on the wings.

Too many instances...

I think Lukaku has played on the wing fairly regularly, maybe not for the duration, but for spells in the game he's been asked to fill in/drop wide.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

He signed for us to play every game and put himself back in the shop window for a champions league team, I don't think that should surprise anyone. He's also not wrong about wanting to win something, why not, we're good enough to win a cup. All these comments coming out about the manager are worrying though. Needs to get his act together.

Agree 100%.

But the amount of comments towards the manager, from different players is making me wonder.

 

[larrygobfiend]

Can't blame him for being ambitious.

I wish every player had Tim Cahill's attitude towards Everton, but that's not going to happen, sadly.

 

[TheHumbleEgg]

He's specified his age and wants to win trophies now. So he's set out his cards for a move I think.

I'm gobsmacked as I thought he'd have more sense than that, as any move now would be to a club below the top tier as he is very unproven, but we are where we are.

Who's going to plump £30m+ on him based on his obvious limitations beyond the Tottenhams of this world?

I just find the comments stupid - not about the manager, but more about his desire to win trophies and the timing of such comments. Good luck getting a starting berth at Man City, Barcelona or Real Madrid lad.

All I take from it really is that A) he says he wants to win trophies and B) that he doesn't like playing on the wing. He's openly admitting the wide scenario doesn't suit him. Again, says more about the management for me than anything else...

We haven't had anything approaching the talent he has at the club for YEARS. The prob with the BELGIAN quotes is that they (players) seem closer to their press than happens over here, it's EVERY time the national team is away, they come across like a gaggle of chatty Nans all airing their dirties during a bingo interval, it's gossipy crap. That said, it also gives a LOT away...

PRE-SEASON's gonna be interesting, that's for sure...

 

[mightymoyes]

hes an ambitious player at an unambitious club unfortunately.

 

[Eric Djemba-Djemba]

It's looking more and more like that Martinez is the biggest problem. Señor Bellwiff has ruined us this season.