🇧🇪 Romelu Lukaku

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

9 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

Agreed. Not going to beat down a player as long as he takes some effort. In this case I hope at least Tuchel or Romelu himself takes some effort to adjust his game.

The problem is that TT is adamant on Rom to play as a target man and even commanded him back to the centre after a rare move to the side during the last game while Rom is too old to become an accomplished target man by now. There simply is a huge misunderstanding here. Lukaku think he is more of a ball to feet channel runner, charging into space, everyone else thinks bc of his built he is a target man. TT's offensive system is kinda rigid. the attackers rarely switch their positions, whilst the wing backs have quite a lot of freedom.

I am increasingly leaning towards trying him as a RF with Kai as false 9 and CHO or Puli on the left, so his lack of technique is not as obvious and he can play to his strengths. Obviously we lose a lot of pressing with him but there is always a compromise.

[Fulham Broadway 17,314]

Think he'll be an expensive 70th minute man now when opposing defenders are tiring

[Tomo 21,751]

Remember when there was that debate over whether we should have kept young Lukaku instead of bringing in a 32 year old Eto'o?

I'd take our version of Eto'o over this Rom let alone the raw version.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

What a waste of money, our last window turned out to be disastrous after all. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

The composure and technique from Broja to score against Brighton doesn't exist in Lukaku's locker. 

[King Kante 1,643]

1 hour ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Think he'll be an expensive 70th minute man now when opposing defenders are tiring

So, essentially Giroud. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

6 minutes ago, King Kante said:

So, essentially Giroud. 

I would respect Tuchel so much more if he does that. In this case, or I would hope, the entire fanbase would back Tuchel here over Lukaku if he throws a fit. 

[Tomo 21,751]

3 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I would respect Tuchel so much more if he does that. In this case, or I would hope, the entire fanbase would back Tuchel here over Lukaku if he throws a fit. 

I'd like to think so but after Torres and too an extent Kepa i ain't underestimating just what sort of strange power expensive underperforming players can have on a section of our fanbase.

You just know that stadium tour when he was a teenager will be rolled out as emotional blackmail.

[Fulham Broadway 17,314]

38 minutes ago, King Kante said:

So, essentially Giroud. 

Maybe without the clinical finishing - think he will have his uses and score a few

[King Kante 1,643]

1 hour ago, Magic Lamps said:

The problem is that TT is adamant on Rom to play as a target man and even commanded him back to the centre after a rare move to the side during the last game while Rom is too old to become an accomplished target man by now. There simply is a huge misunderstanding here. Lukaku think he is more of a ball to feet channel runner, charging into space, everyone else thinks bc of his built he is a target man. TT's offensive system is kinda rigid. the attackers rarely switch their positions, whilst the wing backs have quite a lot of freedom.

I am increasingly leaning towards trying him as a RF with Kai as false 9 and CHO or Puli on the left, so his lack of technique is not as obvious and he can play to his strengths. Obviously we lose a lot of pressing with him but there is always a compromise.

Playing him as a RF may work better in the attacking phase but in the defensive phase it would be even more disastrous than playing him as a CF as the RF in TT's system has to cover the RWB and thus press and get up and down more than the CF, something he is already struggling with. 

The principal problem with Lukaku isn't his technical issues (which are a problem) but that he is completely the wrong type of player for TT's system. 

The West Ham game was actually a very good case in point as we got one half without him, then one half with him. 

In the first half, the front three were pressing as a unit in a constant and consistent manner, as well as working together as a cohesive unit. This consequently meant West Ham were struggling to get out and when they did push up we were stretching the field to counterattack in a dangerous manner, which also meant they had to keep an extra body back. 

In the second half, the press disappeared which allowed West Ham to step up the field and start attacking us. Additionally, when when we did have a counter-attacking opportunity he was static/central which made the attacks easier to defend. 

[King Kante 1,643]

7 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Maybe without the clinical finishing - think he will have his uses and score a few

Is Lukaku clinical? Tbh, I do not really put him in that category, a good finisher, yes, but a clinical one doesn't have the kind of misses he has had in his career. 

[Fulham Broadway 17,314]

4 minutes ago, King Kante said:

Is Lukaku clinical? Tbh, I do not really put him in that category, a good finisher, yes, but a clinical one doesn't have the kind of misses he has had in his career. 

Lol I meant without Girouds clinical finishing

[laura90 556]

When we were first linked I posted: It's a fecking disgrace. And it was. I don't blame him. But spending 100 mil on Lukaku, whom  we have been watching for two years at United was madness and disgrace of epic proportions that may cost us top four place,  if he regains starting position and injury crisis lasts . I have never wanted striker given options. I badly wanted defensive central midfilder to fill for injury prone Kante and Kovacic.  Not addressing this problem but getting striker who is well past his prime (pacey merchant entering 13th year of active football) was criminal.

Saul? Never ever was solution but I could never comment badly about somebody who may have some mental issues. Never took him serious and nobody should have. 

But hey, even if we are not happy with Lukaku, opposition is delighted. Which other striker is regularly showing to defenders where exactly the ball should go next?

 

 

[Fulham Broadway 17,314]

Still think he will have his uses. He dragged two panicking defenders with him when he came on, freeing up Ziyech to score.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

8 minutes ago, laura90 said:

When we were first linked I posted: It's a fecking disgrace. And it was. I don't blame him. But spending 100 mil on Lukaku, whom  we have been watching for two years at United was madness and disgrace of epic proportions that may cost us top four place,  if he regains starting position and injury crisis lasts . I have never wanted striker given options. I badly wanted defensive central midfilder to fill for injury prone Kante and Kovacic.  Not addressing this problem but getting striker who is well past his prime (pacey merchant entering 13th year of active football) was criminal.

Saul? Never ever was solution but I could never comment badly about somebody who may have some mental issues. Never took him serious and nobody should have. 

But hey, even if we are not happy with Lukaku, opposition is delighted. Which other striker is regularly showing to defenders where exactly the ball should go next?

 

 

Calling Lukaku past his prime is a bit harsh, he just the wrong Striker for our system.

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

3 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Still think he will have his uses. He dragged two panicking defenders with him when he came on, freeing up Ziyech to score.

Don't know if it was you or someone else with a generic avatar but Lukaku will have his use, just not a €100 million pound use. 

Whether Tuchel will use him as an impact player, or if Lukaku will accept such a role, is highly doubtful. 

[Fulham Broadway 17,314]

4 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Don't know if it was you or someone else with a generic avatar but Lukaku will have his use, just not a €100 million pound use. 

Whether Tuchel will use him as an impact player, or if Lukaku will accept such a role, is highly doubtful. 

We have a history of sticking with expensive players that have been the dogs bollocks but arent quite the full ticket when they sign all the way back to Sutton, Fleck....so I fully expect the club to try and squeeze as much out of the 100m before they call it a day.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Personally, still think there has to be a way for him to play in our team successfully and contribute. Its not as if he is Rickie Lambert or Grant Holt or some other Z list PL striker.

I still think that the alternative relying on goal shy and largely inconsistent players like Kai, Werner and Ziyech to deliver goals consistently is risky considering but as has been mentioned it is also risky shoehorning Lukaku for the sakes of it.

There are no doubts that Mount, Havertz and Werner in our front 3/Mount as a 10 and those 2 as split strikers last season was effective as well as in general play bringing better chance creation than with a fixed CF like Giroud/Tammy for instance but they don’t score enough. Thats the issue. Thats always going to be the issue, particularly Werner - I mean we are basically 6 months into Werner’s second season and for me he looks even worse than he did for the majority of last season (didn’t think it was even possible). I’ve seen no improvement, in fact more of a regression, even his famed “movement” and “running off the ball”…. he’s doing nothing.

Lukaku’s Chelsea career isn’t over by any stretches which you’d think trenching through some of the pages here, just right now it looks more like an inadequate buy than anything else. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by OneMoSalah

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

But Pep also wanted him. I am sure he was aware of his shortcomings in pressing but still wanted him. 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

But Pep also wanted him. I am sure he was aware of his shortcomings in pressing but still wanted him. 

The being good at pressing/bad at pressing thing is one of those things which you can kind of overlook because Pep has signed/coached players before who didn’t press and makes them buy into it and makes it work because its his philosophy. So has Klopp. So has Bielsa. Coaches who want their team to press set it up and coach it into the players, based on triggers. 

We don’t really play as a high pressing team either, obviously we press off the ball but we seen to do it more periods/phases of the game as well as sitting off and being compact and organised which is where a great deal of our success has come with under Tuchel.  We did see it with Mount, Werner and Havertz last year but its not like we pressed a similarly to City or Liverpool do when they lose the ball everytime, we were probably closer to being a counter attacking team because it suited us more.

Edited December 6, 2021 by OneMoSalah