2018/19 Dominic Calvert-Lewin

[trueblue84]

I am not sure Rashford has scored many more goals than DCL. Rashford has 7 goals 5 assists last season (one every 150 minutes) and 10/7 this season (one every 117 minutes). Calvert Lewin has 4/8 last season (one every 156 minutes) and 6/5 this (one every 146 minutes). Calvert Lewin is a little old (6 months older).

They are broadly similar stats, albeit that this season Rashford has kicked on another level. It is worth noting that he plays with Lukaku, Sanchez, Mata, Pogba etc who make and take many more chances. Calvert Lewin has played in an Everton team under Koeman who was sacked, Allardyce and then Silva when we were really struggling.

You also have to factor in, almost all United fans want to build their team around Rashford and believe he could lead the line in one of the best teams in Europe. I can't see how many on here don't think Calvert Lewin is good enough for a side that is a mid table team, aiming to break the top 6, when their records are very similar.

That's only half the story, though. Calvert lewin makes fewer passes (980), creates fewer chances (8) and puts in fewer crosses (25).

Rashford made twice as many passes (1830), created more big chances (17) and put in way more crosses (220 - that is not a typo!).

 

[BillLovesRoo]

That's PL goals. Aguero has scored 28 goals, Salah 25, Aubamayang 23, Calvert-Lewin 8

Also all played over 1,300 minutes more than him then

 

[catcherintherye]

The debate around Calvert Lewin is unlikely to ever really be solved. If what you want from a centre forward is a lad who scored 20+ goals then I am not sure it's ever likely to be him on a regular basis. I don't completely rule it out, because he's got a lot of natural ability and shown an enormous propensity to improve but he's by no means a natural goalscorer.

If that is what people want, then that is very reasonable. My only contention would be, that in my lifetime of watching Everton we have had 1 such natural goalscorer. The year he scored more than 20 league goals he left. Any orthodox reading of our financial situation would indicate we could not really have afforded to pay him the wages needed to stay. I don't mean to be glib, but the likelihood is that we could not attract such a proven goalscorer and if we stumbled upon one it would be very difficult to get them to stay.

Calvert Lewin helps the team enormously though, in spite of not being the above. I watched on Saturday and felt that I would hate to play against him. He is quicker, stronger and now ore aggressive than you. It's hard to go tight or drop off him. I would have found him very hard to handle. Likewise if you played with him, you would absolutely love a lad like that in your team. As a defender, if you are stuck you can hit a ball 50 yards down a channel and he makes things happen. It will make you look a fantastic defender at playing the ball out, as he will make something of those punts.

He is now integral to how we are trying to play. On Saturday on at least half a dozen occasions in the first half he won balls he had no right too, or at the very least caused them to conceded possession deep into their half when we were on the back foot in a phase of play. That sort of stuff is invaluable. People talk of the high press a lot, but having a forward who can do what he does saps the energy and enthusiasm of that.

As a midfield player, you can press the Everton backline but you know you will be facing a ball going 40 yards over your head and a likelihood that when it lands it will be deep into your half where you need to be. After a period of time, you just stop pressing. Yes it allows the opposition to gain control in the game, but you don't have to keep doing mindless shuttles.

For me he will be here a while yet, and I am not expecting him to finish lots of chances at games like Fulham away, there will be many more games like that from him but it's a bit irrelevant as what he gives us in general. I hope he does start taking chances more for the record, but don't anticipate there will be enormous improvement or that there needs to be.

We are a mid table team and he is the perfect striker for where we are at. As and when we get to the top 6 level we can have a discussion about what is required from our strikers. However until then it seems to me to be a bit of a pointless discussion. Lets get to the position first before we have that discussion.

If we were smart, we would sign a young forward and ease them in next season with the intention of challenging Calvert Lewin for the season after.

 

[catcherintherye]

That's only half the story, though. Calvert lewin makes fewer passes (980), creates fewer chances (8) and puts in fewer crosses (25).

Rashford made twice as many passes (1830), created more big chances (17) and put in way more crosses (220 - that is not a typo!).

Well yes he is playing in a wide position. How many aerial duals is Rashford winning though? How much possession is he winning back?

 

[arminisgod]

Lukaku has bagged 20 goals a season for 4 seasons running, and could even do it again this season.

AS IF he wouldn't stroll back into our team.

If we had Lukaku playing with Siggy, Bernard, Gomes and Richarlison we would have won more games this season. Simple really.

 

[catcherintherye]

I get that but the case still stands , we do t score enough goals as a team . We struggle to create chances against poor sides and when he does get chances he isn’t clinical. He’s a nuisance and gives defenders a hard time but the way he plays lacks quality. What I mean by that is , he battles etc and when the ball bounces our way in games we can break and look great like the other day, when the ball isn’t bouncing our way he does not possess the quality to create any other way and isn’t clinical enough to score the one chance that he may get in a tight game. He can’t create his own chances and his shooting is bad , he can score headers but even then when the ball is wide a lot of the time he isn’t making the runs that natural scorers make, he just doesn’t have the knack. Having Bernard in the side doesn’t help because of his goal return he creates and more importantly he allows Digne to create and cross , siggy and richy both have good goal returns and they may improve on those next year but not that drastically. So where do the extra goals need to come from? The striker !

Thats a fair point. Goals is a worry. We have a lot of decent players who don't score an awful lot (Gomes, Gueye, Bernard etc). Calvert Lewin needs to improve his finishing, but we can become a competitive team if he can score 15 league goals in a season of playing (which he is not far off being). If I'm honest I would rejig others in the team before him as things stand.

 

[trueblue84]

Well yes he is playing in a wide position. How many aerial duals is Rashford winning though? How much possession is he winning back?

That's my point. Calvert lewin is creating less and he is our main striker. Winning headers and pressing from the front is good but it should not be at the expense of creating chances and scoring goals.

If we want to be fighting for champions League and winning trophies, we should have far better options than Calvert lewin.

 

[mkrudden]

Lukaku has bagged 20 goals a season for 4 seasons running, and could even do it again this season.

AS IF he wouldn't stroll back into our team.

If we had Lukaku playing with Siggy, Bernard, Gomes and Richarlison we would have won more games this season. Simple really.

Isn't the point more, if Lukaku had been playing, Sig and Richarlison would have scored far less?

 

[b-rad]

I’ll bite
Aguero: once in a generation striker very few sure things since no chance of signing a player of his caliber at any point of his career
Salah: Wing-forward completely different to DCL unobtainable after his Basel days
Auba: 3-4 years to late to snap him up started as wide forward before shifting centrally
Mane: Wide forward developed a lot since RBZ days would get blasted for a similar level signing to reply on goals.
Sterling: again wide player misses as many as he scores also plays for city who provide him with a buffet of chances
Kane: Academy product that developed 1-100 chance of happening unobtainable
Hazard: World class since the moment he started playing not known as a prolific scorer
Vardy: unusual path to goal scoring feats to old to be considered.

Point being is everyone wants a sure thing or better CF it’s impossble to predict these days and half the top scorers are wide players

I think you've missed the point.

He was highlighting that so far this season there isn't a single "20 goal a season" striker. No one else seems to have one, so how on earth are we expected to find one.

 

[Nymzee]

Lukaku needs chances created for him to score, we don't do that for our strikers so he wouldn't necessarily slot loads in this team.

 

[arminisgod]

Isn't the point more, if Lukaku had been playing, Sig and Richarlison would have scored far less?

why? in his seasons here Mirallas and Barkley both reached double figures in goals.

 

[catcherintherye]

That’s exactly the kind of striker he will probably end up like and I have said it before . Marcus bent , the guy that was fast , athletic and ran all day, also the guy that’s had about 18 different clubs in a 12 year career. As for the Dunc comparison, Ferguson was actually very good with the ball at his feet and could finish, he was unplayable in the air when he could be arsed , the problem he had was injuries , temperament and also was very slow. I do t really see much similarities tbf

Bent for us was terrific for 6 months. When he was utilised in a certain way. We moved away from that system too quickly in my view, brought Beattie in and in all honesty we were a poorer side for 18 months. So there's probably a lesson there about when to move on from a particular style of striker.

I see the Ferguson comparisons quite clearly mate. He leaps as well as any player since Ferguson and is beginning to dominate defences as Ferguson did, where he would just run all over them. The Arsenal game recently reminded me of Ferguson V Newcastle in 1996 (possibly because of the weather) where Ferguson didn't score but he won Everton the game as the Newcastle defence couldn't live with him.

Ferguson was also quick and powerful in his first spell (before the injuries you mention). Probably the one difference is he had an instinctive knowledge of when to time his runs into the box for headers, which while Calvert Lewin has got much better, he's a bit of a way off that (but it's a high standard, Ferguson is the best I've seen).

Either way, if we get 80% of Bent circa 2004 and 80% of Ferguson circa 96 he will be a very very good striker for us (even though I agree he will never be a prolific goalscorer).

 

[catcherintherye]

That's my point. Calvert lewin is creating less and he is our main striker. Winning headers and pressing from the front is good but it should not be at the expense of creating chances and scoring goals.

If we want to be fighting for champions League and winning trophies, we should have far better options than Calvert lewin.

As a number 9 though, he is not going to create many chances from crossing. What we require is a lad who is going to win lots of aerial duals and win possession back up the pitch, and carry the ball well. I suspect he will ahead of Rashford in those categories. If he was playing in a wide position I would say fair enough re crosses, but that's not his job.

 

[trueblue84]

As a number 9 though, he is not going to create many chances from crossing. What we require is a lad who is going to win lots of aerial duals and win possession back up the pitch, and carry the ball well. I suspect he will ahead of Rashford in those categories. If he was playing in a wide position I would say fair enough re crosses, but that's not his job.

He has played there a fair bit. Up until his recent run in the team, he was mostly out wide, wasn't he?

 

[brieverton]

The debate about a 20-goal a season striker, true it's immensely difficult to find one, but that is Brands' job. It isn't an automatic given that we couldn't unearth one from somewhere as a result of good scouting. 20 league goals vs 20 in total are two very different things though.

Whether we find one or not, we will need one of that scoring ability to make any dent on the top six. It's the ability to win a game from a single good chance and turn one point into three, or a defeat into a draw, that we lack.

We should be looking to bring in another striker regardless and I'm sure it will happen. We could do with two even.

I like DCL a lot but without a return of goals to match his enthusiasm and work-rate, I'm not sure how it will work out for him long-term here.

You would think whoever comes in will have a decent record at whatever club(s) they are coming from, probably abroad, and will be given a chance to start.

Ideally we need to be in Europe and have 60 games a year to contend with to give him enough games on a consistent basis. Even without goals, he is a nuisance to defend against and undoubtedly provides another option for us tactically if not in goalscoring. That can be under-estimated.

But he will find it very difficult if they do manage to sign someone that can hit the ground running.