Summer Transfer Window 2017

[NilesRossly]

With better players around him here this season he'd have got 30 goals.

He is screaming most of the time and pointing where the ball should go and he gets it 1 in 3 times.

He will win Chelsea the PL again next season...that's why we'll get £85/90M

He's not an elite striker for me. Costa is a better all round player. The reason Chelsea didn't like him first time around was his lack of finesse and touch around the box. Lukaku needs to be one on one with a defender or to have space to run into. That isn't happening at Chelsea. He'll be at Chelsea two years max before they get someone better.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

Yes we would. It's a fact.

Those stats that said we would have still finished 7th without Lukaku's goals, I don't think the assists he had were included, can't remember how many assists he did have like.

 

[NilesRossly]

Schneiderlin/Klaassen/Davies/Gueye. That is quite enough to hold that position all season with enough quality. We can draft in from Unsworth's team if need be (assuming Besic isn't fit).

I cant stress enough the chasm that will be left by Lukaku. His departure will take years to recover from. He is an exceptional talent and we'll struggle badly to make that gulf up in terms of class and finishing. Sandro? Hmm. Maybe chip in with 10 or so IMO. Calvert-Lewin is garbage IMO...just not buying that kid at all.

We need a massive statement signing for upfront.

Disagree. Moyes had teams that performed better with Cahill and Fellaini up front. Lukaku scores goals but he limits are attacking play because his touch is so poor and the better teams can stop you if you only have one threat. We can replace him with two or three attackers each scoring 10 to 15 goals each and be a more effective team.

 

[Lanolin]

and then again Moyes last 4 seasons averaged 54 goals per season and with Lukaku last 4 seasons averaged 57.5 goals. Not a significant difference.
I understand you saying we would have played differently but that is basically like playing a goaless lukaku and we still would have finished 7th.

That's a different point though.

I don't dispute that a team can finish 7th without someone scoring 20+ goals, of course they can. Moyes's teams used to do it because they weren't really set up for someone to score a lot of goals. There was a good team ethic, the players tended to have been here long term and knew and trusted eachother, so things 'clicked' quite easily. The combinations between players caused teams a lot of problems and goals were shared out.

Last year we didn't have that. The team often looked fairly disjointed and not quite sure what they were trying to achieve - as you would expect with so many new players, and new coaching staff and methods. I think if you took Lukaku's goals out we would have really struggled to make an impact. Looking around the team we just don't have enough players who you would back to step up and get more goals, so I think it would have hit us quite hard. I think it would also have had a big impact on fitness levels. We had a lot of easy wins last year where we were able to take our foot of the gas pretty early and conserve energy. Without Lukaku's goals that wouldn't have happened and I think we'd have been struggling for energy late in the season.

Obviously we'll never know how it would have gone in reality, that's just my take on it.

 

[banno]

Those stats that said we would have still finished 7th without Lukaku's goals, I don't think the assists he had were included, can't remember how many assists he did have like.

No they didn't include assists but the stats took away all his goals and it is a case of apart from his assists not playing with a striker. We would have had someone else up front who obviously would have chipped in with a few goals and assists themselves. I am sure we will not get another striker that will top Lukakus goals but just trying to point out that it will not be the end of the world for us and if Koeman can change it around a bit up front then I believe more players will chip in with goals rather than a dependency on one player.

 

[rochdaleblue]

We're nowhere near being a club that can have massive strength in depth all over the team so hoarding 5 players for two positions looks like overkill and a poor use of resources.

I believe we'll struggle upfront this coming season, not just because we'll be Lukaku-less but because Koeman doesn't seem to be able to land an out and out forward who leads the line - not a decent one anyway.

We need a LB and a CB. It all costs and signing more players for pretty much a couple of positions makes no sense.

He's fixated with CMs. All managers have their fixations in a position, this one is Koeman's.

I agree to a point, we don't have the finances to do that. But we definitely need strength in depth. It's about building a squad, we are light years away from city, united and Chelsea who virtually have 2 full internationals for every position.
However what I would like to see is options off the bench, that have the ability to change the course of a game. All too often this season we've seen Kone, DCL, Barry jagielka or Mori on the bench. To me that's just numbers in the bench, not options.
With the arrival of the likes of klassen, we could rotate schnerderlin, Davies or Gana. Buy Keane and we could put holgate on the bench and he would be a more than suitable alternative, should we want to switch to 3 at the back.
Sometimes this season, especially away from home, I've looked at our bench when we've been losing or drawing and have been dismayed at the options available to us. Hopefully after this summer's activity, that won't be the case anymore next season.

 

[davek]

I don't disagree with your anxiety regarding forwards (if you look at my prior posts you'll see that I am very worried about replacing Lukaku's goals) but I think we play with a lot of CMs relatively speaking and 5 players for 3 positions doesn't seem like overkill. I'm also concerned about what our resources really are but things are in such a state of flux that I'm not sure where we are in that regard. I suspect we will bring in some cheaper squad players (both in terms of wages and fees) compared with the players we are getting linked with currently towards the end of the window when prices decline for the less glamorous players and we know our EL fate.

I fear we'll see a pressing outfit with little clue what to do with the ball when we get it and no one with the class to punish opponents.

That can change I suppose. But Lukaku and Barkley leaving will set us back. The signings so far are unimpressive to me.

 

[Lanolin]

Disagree. Moyes had teams that performed better with Cahill and Fellaini up front. Lukaku scores goals but he limits are attacking play because his touch is so poor and the better teams can stop you if you only have one threat. We can replace him with two or three attackers each scoring 10 to 15 goals each and be a more effective team.

I think what you're overlooking there though is that replacing him with 3 players to share out the goals he scored doesn't get us any further on, it just keeps us where we are. The top 5 all scored significantly more than us last season, and most of them (Liverpool aside) did it by having a striker who scored a bagful and a supporting cast chipping in with a decent return. In an ideal world we would keep Lukaku (or sign someone who scores a similar amount) and get players like Sandro and Berardi in alongside him to allow us to reach those levels. If all we do is replace him with a couple of players who manage to put together enough goals as a unit to offset the loss then it'll be a bit disappointing to be honest.

 

[Whitty]

Think I've wandered into the Lukaku thread by mistake.

 

[roydo]

I fear we'll see a pressing outfit with little clue what to do with the ball when we get it and no one with the class to punish opponents.

That can change I suppose. But Lukaku and Barkley leaving will set us back. The signings so far are unimpressive to me.

Surprised at that.

 

[davek]

I agree to a point, we don't have the finances to do that. But we definitely need strength in depth. It's about building a squad, we are light years away from city, united and Chelsea who virtually have 2 full internationals for every position.
However what I would like to see is options off the bench, that have the ability to change the course of a game. All too often this season we've seen Kone, DCL, Barry jagielka or Mori on the bench. To me that's just numbers in the bench, not options.
With the arrival of the likes of klassen, we could rotate schnerderlin, Davies or Gana. Buy Keane and we could put holgate on the bench and he would be a more than suitable alternative, should we want to switch to 3 at the back.
Sometimes this season, especially away from home, I've looked at our bench when we've been losing or drawing and have been dismayed at the options available to us. Hopefully after this summer's activity, that won't be the case anymore next season.

Options off the bench for me is primarily about sending on a different type of attacker/wide man to the one on the pitch getting nowhere.

That's why loaning Deulofeu out this past season was off the charts mad and a clear sign of someone who hasn't got a 'kin clue what he's doing in an attacking sense.

 

[davek]

Surprised at that.

Pickford: meh
Klaassen: big step up required, his first season will be just a steep learning curve

 

[roydo]

Pickford: meh
Klaassen: big step up required, his first season will be just a steep learning curve

Was being ironic mate!

Will judge the players when they play for us.

 

[davek]

Disagree. Moyes had teams that performed better with Cahill and Fellaini up front. Lukaku scores goals but he limits are attacking play because his touch is so poor and the better teams can stop you if you only have one threat. We can replace him with two or three attackers each scoring 10 to 15 goals each and be a more effective team.

Moyes was like Koeman: clueless about attackers and what to do with them. Having two MFs as your main goal scoring threat and forwards running channels for them: says it all about Moyes.

 

[kenada_blue]

and then again Moyes last 4 seasons averaged 54 goals per season and with Lukaku last 4 seasons averaged 57.5 goals. Not a significant difference.
I understand you saying we would have played differently but that is basically like playing a goaless lukaku and we still would have finished 7th.

Different foundations. Rom has been playing in a side that leaked goals for fun and threw away leads.

Previous to that all that was missing was goals to win games.

BUT I do think we're still light up top if/when Rom leaves. You'd want at least 3/4 players able to score 10 goals each if you're not relying on 1 striker.

We don't have that.