Romelu Lukaku

[caught]

Did he end up signing a new contract?

 

[abelard]

If the state of this thread is anything to go by, we don't deserve talented players.

 

[Pabbers]

Slight hint of racial undertones here....well someone had to say it.

 

[Moomin]

Did he end up signing a new contract?

We ran out of paper in the printer, Friday it will be sorted.

 

[summerisle]

And people want rid.

 

[Carlito]

Slight hint of racial undertones here....well someone had to say it.

It gets said about every five pages or so.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

We'll miss him when he's gone

Sadly, it seems that he has to leave before some will fully appreciate how good he really is

The Club will keep going like, it always does, but it will be with great sadness that I wish Rom well when his time comes to leave

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

And people want rid.

Some people don't deserve Romelu Lukaku

 

[ijjysmith]

If we got rid of him you know we either wouldn't replace him at all or would end up with Chris Wood or someone up there.

 

[Fat Eric]

It's no secret Rom wanted to use the club as a stepping stone to get his move to an elite club...Or hope that this club progressed to a level where he can stay (At least Europa but he is a champions league player), But the pure fact we are going backwards and playing utter dogsh1t will probably see him go at the latest in the summer and in fairness he has done well to stay so long. Managing to get 9 league goals in 'that' team is as impressive as Linekers 40 in 86. Then we will sign the likes of Bony who atm cant get a game ahead of Diouf or Jon Walters. I know it's all negative but the way we are playing means i've looked forward to having teeth removed or a camera stuck up my arse more than I have this weeks matches against the Arsenal and RS.

 

[JLW]

Football is a relatively simple game.
Lukaku has two great strengths.

Firstly he is one of the best what I would call 'on the shoulder of the last man' attackers I have seen in 40 odd years of watching the game. That means him facing the opponent's goal and taking delivery of through balls. When he gets that his conversation rate is huge. The problem is that this is most effective when you play two up front, so that one can run off the other creating space in the centre of defence to run into. It's hugely difficult to do playing up front alone as you are usually on a two v one situation, allowing one of the defenders to mark, the other to intercept the pass. That's when some people claim Lukaku goes missing. Me, I look at it and see him isolated and marked out of the game.

Secondly he's one of the deadliest finishers in the box. I don't have the stats to hand but his shots on target ratio is very high and conversion rate high too. The problem? We don't get the ball in the box often enough, or when we do the accuracy of crossing is poor (Deulofeu, Bolasie both v inaccurate crossers, Mirallas and Lennon don't get enough crosses into the box).

Hence my comment about building a team around Lukaku. We need a #10 to play alongside or slightly behind him, plus at least one midfielder who can put through balls through regularly. In addition we need wide midfielders/wingers who are more consistent in quality and frequency of delivery.

I am not knocking his goal scoring ability at all, its statistically up there with the best. The point you make about being isolated and the 'two v one' situation is were he badly fails. He doesn't try to make runs in the flanks, even when he pins himself to CB and a ball comes in that we need to stick to him, he doesn't do it. So many of our moves and attacking play breaks down via him, how are we meant to sustain attacks, gather momentum or bring midfielders into play when the ball doesn't stick? I don't buy into this 'not his game'. We are not playing to his strengths of what he would like, but has he got the heart for the club to change his game for the sake of the team? My answer is no he doesn't want to.
I cant have a player that contributes nothing for 3-4 games then scores a couple and so on....
I really want him to prove me so so wrong, and start putting in some shifts because right now we need him too more than ever.. I watched 3 games yesterday Costa, Rondon, Kane, Ibra, Mkhyterian, Firminho, all of them put a shift in for their team closing down etc... Please tell me what makes Lukaku exempt from doing that?? Its not a skill to work hard.

 

[AndyC]

It's no secret Rom wanted to use the club as a stepping stone to get his move to an elite club...Or hope that this club progressed to a level where he can stay (At least Europa but he is a champions league player), But the pure fact we are going backwards and playing utter rubbish will probably see him go at the latest in the summer and in fairness he has done well to stay so long. Managing to get 9 league goals in 'that' team is as impressive as Linekers 40 in 86. Then we will sign the likes of Bony who atm cant get a game ahead of Diouf or Jon Walters. I know it's all negative but the way we are playing means i've looked forward to having teeth removed or a camera stuck up my arse more than I have this weeks matches against the Arsenal and RS.

Wording changed to address the avoidance of the poor/bad language filter.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

And people want rid.

Pretty impressive goal return for Kev as well, if we're being fair

 

[GwladysPhil]

Did he end up signing a new contract?

Yes mate the forum ITK confirmed it.

 

[catcherintherye]

Football is a relatively simple game.
Lukaku has two great strengths.

Firstly he is one of the best what I would call 'on the shoulder of the last man' attackers I have seen in 40 odd years of watching the game. That means him facing the opponent's goal and taking delivery of through balls. When he gets that his conversation rate is huge. The problem is that this is most effective when you play two up front, so that one can run off the other creating space in the centre of defence to run into. It's hugely difficult to do playing up front alone as you are usually on a two v one situation, allowing one of the defenders to mark, the other to intercept the pass. That's when some people claim Lukaku goes missing. Me, I look at it and see him isolated and marked out of the game.

Secondly he's one of the deadliest finishers in the box. I don't have the stats to hand but his shots on target ratio is very high and conversion rate high too. The problem? We don't get the ball in the box often enough, or when we do the accuracy of crossing is poor (Deulofeu, Bolasie both v inaccurate crossers, Mirallas and Lennon don't get enough crosses into the box).

Hence my comment about building a team around Lukaku. We need a #10 to play alongside or slightly behind him, plus at least one midfielder who can put through balls through regularly. In addition we need wide midfielders/wingers who are more consistent in quality and frequency of delivery.

Do you subscribe to the view that he needs a partner? Even with quite poor players (Valencia/Kone) he looks much happier and more dangerous with a lad up there with him to help him out.

Your summation of Lukaku is spot on. For me he is a fantastic striker but as an all round forward he is lacking a bit. He never looks happy having 2 centre backs on him, one really tight to him the other sweeping round behind. Put another forward up there and allow him to isolate a centre back, and also have some freedom in the positions he takes up and you are looking at a lad who could get 25+ goals a season.

Given the way we are using Lukaku I can see the reasons why people would want to cash in big money. If we want to keep him we should bring in players who help him and a partner to do some of the dirty work (a lad like Deeney would be perfect) would fit the bill.