I watched the second half of the game last night and I liked what I saw. The first thing I liked was the obvious improvement in Rom's all round game. That sounds daft as he had very few touches of the ball. But he was totally isolated at times and the service into him was incredibly poor. He was also extremely well marshalled by two very good central defenders (
how good is Manolas by the way?). But on the very few occasions Belgium managed to get service to him, I thought he did really well. Great hold up play created two good chances for colleagues, he scored a wonderful goal, and nearly grabbed a winner minutes later. Believe me, a very poor Belgium side have a lot to thank Rom for after last night's game.
The second thing I liked about the game (from an Everton holding onto Rom POV) was how Belgium set up last night . I think Rom's a very intelligent lad and understands that he isn't a complete forward, not yet anyway. He knows that a team needs to set up and play a certain way to get the best out of him. Everton, under RK, do that. Belgium have better players available to them than Everton have. At club level, he also plays against better players than were on show last night for Greece, Manolas excepted. But for probably 80 minutes last night he was essentially a spectator. I'm hoping Rom will recognise this, see his shortfalls that still need improving, and appreciate that whilst he's still developing his game, it's important to be given the platform to allow that. I don't think he'll be given that platform at an elite club.
I do think it's inevitable that we will lose Rom at some stage. If RM, Barca, Bayern etc come calling it will be impossible to hold onto him. But I've no idea if that will be this summer or in 1 or 2 years time. I do believe it would be in Rom's interest to continue his development here for at least another season, and that could benefit us too as it would help us attract better players in the transfer window to move us up to the next level. I hope he signs a new contract in the process but I, like everybody else at the moment, haven't got a clue what he'll do. If he does, it will be a great fillip for us after the sadness surrounding Seamus' injury.
I hope he'll stay but, if he doesn't, we'll receive a big fee for him and there are future Rom's out there. We just need to send the money wisely. Either way I sense good times ahead for us.
