Lukaku

[TheFinnFan]

For fans who have been waiting 20 years for another trophy, it's incredible how little patience we have with our 21 year old players.

I already sold him

 

[Khalekan]

He is still only young and learning the trade.
He is going to get 20 goals this season and he has been managed poorly and played out of position quite a lot.
Yes we have had an awful season by our standards but rom will be a top player in a few years

How do you know he us going to get "twenty goals this season"?

Or that he will be a top player?

Certainly on yesterday's performance you wouldn't wager your farm on him scoring in the remaining two games.

But even if he does.....so what?

His goal return in the league has been paltry. Someone said he has scored only one goal from open play in the league since New Year.

And if that is true it was the one which went in off him at Palace.

Not oneimagined Rom being so bang average when we were all punching the air when he signed on permanently back in August.

Regarding him being young he has been around the EPL for three seasons now and has been to a World Cup already.

He is showing zero sign of improving.......in fact few would argue that he hasn't regressed this season.

I will be delighted if Rom flowers into the beast we believed him to be when next season starts.

But alas Matty, I am having my doubts.

He is starting to remind me of a precocious two year old racehorse which wiped the floor with the opposition as a juvenile.

But doesn't develop over the winter and is left standing when the other colts do.

 

[Khalekan]

From the echo: "Lukaku turns 22 next week, and could have 20 goals in a season, both home and abroad. Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer were also both 22 when they hit 20 for the first time, while Wayne Rooney was approaching that age when hitting that target. Andy Cole, meanwhile, had just turned 23. Those four make up five of the all-time leading Premier League goalscorers."

The important thing for me there is the last three words......."Premier league goals orders".

I would love to know how many iof the 20 Goals Henry and Shearer scored when they were 22 were league goals.

This constant reference to "19 goals" masks the fact that we broke the bank so he could kick on in the PL this season......the majority of them were scored on Thursday night.

I still look forward to seeing the real Rom jump out the box next season.

I desperately want him to score 20 goals in the league.

And I am the first to acknowledge our tactics don't seem to bring the best out of him.

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

....we'll see in 5 years.

I hope so, I quite like & do rate the lad. Back-to-goal though, he is atrocious - no two ways about it.

 

[Eggs]

I hope so, I quite like & do rate the lad. Back-to-goal though, he is atrocious - no two ways about it.

...as I said in an earlier post, his touch in some games is decent and some of his lay offs are quite subtle. That indicates capability is there, I really thinks it's more about concentration and application in certain games.

 

[daz4matty]

This is the part I just can't get on board with. The way some people talk, you'd think we were lucky to have him.

Top players can do the basics properly.

We are lucky to have him.
He is still learning and there have been patches were he has been poor but we have to give him time and patience to become the player we want him to become.
He has been starved of the ball a lot this season and still got 19 goals.

 

[blue4eva77]

this, he has been a bit crap this season, but so has everyone. he's been crap and scored 20 goals - which at his age is even more impressive - why are people so insistent on selling him because of the first baddish season in his entire career? does anyone really think we can attract anyone with such a high reputation?

Hit the nail on the head with that last question and Rom knows it to. That's the problem with him and why he seems so content. No pressure on him at all, no competition. Regardless of how he plays (usually dire) he will be strolling out each week leading the line.

A handful, one handful of good games at the turn of the year is all he has mustered for over 12 months now. Since coming back from his injury last season he has looked quite average. As I've said, this includes his world cup.

Maybe it is just one of those seasons but he has not shown any progression at all this season, nothing. He hasn't progressed into the player we thought we were getting.

 

[blue4eva77]

We are lucky to have him.
He is still learning and there have been patches were he has been poor but we have to give him time and patience to become the player we want him to become.
He has been starved of the ball a lot this season and still got 19 goals.

No we're not lucky to have him. He's lucky to be playing for our club. He's the lucky one.

 

[Carlito]

We are lucky to have him.
He is still learning and there have been patches were he has been poor but we have to give him time and patience to become the player we want him to become.
He has been starved of the ball a lot this season and still got 19 goals.

Lucky to pay £28m for a woefully limited footballer?

I've never doubted his ability to bundle through jarg Europa League defences, but some of the comments I read about him developing into one of the world's best strikers are just laughable.

He'll be playing in Turkey by the time he's 26.

 

[davids]

......yes, touch can really improve with age.

I honestly hope it does,maybe it's concentration because it's shown in some games he can manage it,his scoring record this season may point towards his being more suited to the Continental game,and maybe Jose knew that all along.

 

[Joey66]

...as I said in an earlier post, his touch in some games is decent and some of his lay offs are quite subtle. That indicates capability is there, I really thinks it's more about concentration and application in certain games.

That's not his strength though is it -I agree he needs to improve in that area, but a certain Gary Lineker came to us , and he was no good back to goal , and Kendall altered our style with his goal tally we nearly won the double, Lukarku needs a faster midfield with a play maker in it to pass the ball ahead of him - someone like Alan Ball - Ross is on his own as we play unnecessary with two defensive mid fielders look how many time he has possession, looks around turns not out ball of creativity for him, that young lad from Villa along side Ross , and what a difference it would make Barry is virtually a 3rd centre back ! the slow build up play is a nightmare for any no 9 the great Dixie would have trouble scoring the crosses were awful 16 corners 99% were rubbish!

 

[davids]

That's not his strength though is it -I agree he needs to improve in that area, but a certain Gary Lineker came to us , and he was no good back to goal , and Kendall altered our style with his goal tally we nearly won the double, Lukarku needs a faster midfield with a play maker in it to pass the ball ahead of him - someone like Alan Ball - Ross is on his own as we play unnecessary with two defensive mid fielders look how many time he has possession, looks around turns not out ball of creativity for him, that young lad from Villa along side Ross , and what a difference it would make Barry is virtually a 3rd centre back ! the slow build up play is a nightmare for any no 9 the great Dixie would have trouble scoring the crosses were awful 16 corners 99% were rubbish!

Agree he's not comfortable with his back to goal and that we need a clever passer of the ball to feed him but that type of player seems to be the one we consistently can't afford

 

[Joey66]

Agree he's not comfortable with his back to goal and that we need a clever passer of the ball to feed him but that type of player seems to be the one we consistently can't afford

There has to be a lower league prospect or someone in our youth system Villa have found one in Grealish, so they are out there Cahill was a find we need to find another bargain basement player like Coleman etc not has beens like Barry

 

[davids]

There has to be a lower league prospect or someone in our youth system Villa have found one in Grealish, so they are out there Cahill was a find we need to find another bargain basement player like Coleman etc not has beens like Barry

Like you I live in hope,I can remember the surprise then disappointment when Moyes signed our Brazilian playmaker.

 

[Eggs]

That's not his strength though is it -I agree he needs to improve in that area, but a certain Gary Lineker came to us , and he was no good back to goal , and Kendall altered our style with his goal tally we nearly won the double, Lukarku needs a faster midfield with a play maker in it to pass the ball ahead of him - someone like Alan Ball - Ross is on his own as we play unnecessary with two defensive mid fielders look how many time he has possession, looks around turns not out ball of creativity for him, that young lad from Villa along side Ross , and what a difference it would make Barry is virtually a 3rd centre back ! the slow build up play is a nightmare for any no 9 the great Dixie would have trouble scoring the crosses were awful 16 corners 99% were rubbish!

.....fair point, Joey, his strength is going the other way. There might have to be total rethink of the team shape, I'm sure the 2 defensive midfielders (and Barry in particular) are there to cover our 2 attacking full backs. If we become more expansive, Coleman and Baines might have to be more selective in their sortees forward.