🇧🇪 Romelu Lukaku

[Jase 43,479]

6 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Oh

In fairness he was fantastic today and was even making visible attempts to adapt to the system.

I still need a lot more sample size before I even think about reassessing my opinion in the grand scheme of things but I'll let him have his moment today.

Yeah, fair but you were still right. 

[Fulham Broadway 17,316]

2 hours ago, Stats said:

Well this season, I thought he done decent against Liverpool before James got sent off. Of course it will be difficult for him.

Against City we were so defensive and albeit he was poor, the approach was so defensive. So maybe we need to go with a more offensive approach.

That being said, game by game, today he completely changed the game for us.  He has been getting slack by most of fan base and today he stepped up.

 

Had a really good attitude in his post match -'going to treat every game from now on as a cup final'

[LAM09 7,056]

The passage of play prior to winning our second PK was something that enabled him/Inter to do so well last season. Someone mentioned it previously, but our reluctancy to move the ball quickly in attack hampers his play/output drastically.  

[Jase 43,479]

5 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

The passage of play prior to winning our second PK was something that enabled him/Inter to do so well last season. Someone mentioned it previously, but our reluctancy to move the ball quickly in attack hampers his play/output drastically.  

But isn't there a caveat to how that goal came about? I mean, Villa were pushing for the equalizer and were always gonna leave spaces for us to exploit. Unless we suddenly start to play on the counter, Lukaku isn't going to get that kind of room to operate (pretty much like what Conte made Inter do) in general situations. Otherwise, agree with the notion that we tend to be slow in releasing the ball quickly. Werner and our other speedy players would also have more joy if we do it more often. 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

4 hours ago, Jase said:

But isn't there a caveat to how that goal came about? I mean, Villa were pushing for the equalizer and were always gonna leave spaces for us to exploit. Unless we suddenly start to play on the counter, Lukaku isn't going to get that kind of room to operate (pretty much like what Conte made Inter do) in general situations. Otherwise, agree with the notion that we tend to be slow in releasing the ball quickly. Werner and our other speedy players would also have more joy if we do it more often. 

Aye but also wasn’t a huge part of our success last season, particularly in the bigger games (City, Madrid, Liverpool etc) not orientated more around playing counter attacking or counter pressing football and exposing/isolating teams in certain areas?

And thats without even mentioning personnel? 

But not releasing the ball quick enough is a problem for a lot of our attackers - 100% agree - and I do think its fair to say that we still don’t know our best/most effective front 3. We seen the guys last year worked well but they weren’t ruthless and we’ve seen so many combination’s this season. I still cant shake the feeling TT is very annoyed with the performances and output from the majority of the attacking guys bar Mount.

Injuries and COVID doesn’t help but again, if we had all our players TT would still vary the front 3 every few games like he seems to have done this season. 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Aye but also wasn’t a huge part of our success last season, particularly in the bigger games (City, Madrid, Liverpool etc) not orientated more around playing counter attacking or counter pressing football and exposing/isolating teams in certain areas?

Yes but a situational circumstance is different from an entire plan for a game altogether. It's not necessarily his fault but the results (don't necessarily mean only the score) with him in a counter-attacking setup in the few games for us has been mixed so far.

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

8 hours ago, LAM09 said:

The passage of play prior to winning our second PK was something that enabled him/Inter to do so well last season. Someone mentioned it previously, but our reluctancy to move the ball quickly in attack hampers his play/output drastically.  

Not just him, but the rest of the attack. Our recycling of possession vs being more direct is often an issue for us. 

[LAM09 7,056]

12 hours ago, Jase said:

But isn't there a caveat to how that goal came about? I mean, Villa were pushing for the equalizer and were always gonna leave spaces for us to exploit. Unless we suddenly start to play on the counter, Lukaku isn't going to get that kind of room to operate (pretty much like what Conte made Inter do) in general situations. Otherwise, agree with the notion that we tend to be slow in releasing the ball quickly. Werner and our other speedy players would also have more joy if we do it more often. 

I agree with the point you made, but it's something we could clearly take advantage off far more often, and we'd reap the rewards as a collective.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

9 hours ago, Jase said:

Yes but a situational circumstance is different from an entire plan for a game altogether. It's not necessarily his fault but the results (don't necessarily mean only the score) with him in a counter-attacking setup in the few games for us has been mixed so far.

Surprisingly (🤪), I do agree.

I think Rom being in and out with injuries also hasn’t helped. Or the inconsistency with the other attackers.

I think TT may look for some other attackers in the summer and may move some on though, Pulisic and Ziyech in particular and maybe Timo if hes in and out the team come next summer.

We need a 10 or wide player who is more decisive to support the team and get between 15-20 goal contributions also as well as a CF who can do that (personally still think Rom can but means the set up has to he tweaked to do so). Mason cannot be the only one outside of CF getting decent numbwrs. 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,818]

 

[Janz 0]

The greatest strength of Lukaku is when he has space behind the defence, then he is one of the best in the world. But they are using Lukaku as a target man, although he improved a lot, he is technically not good enough for that.

[maxlev 54]

I was really impressed with his high pressing yesterday. He has improved alot in different aspect. 

[Jase 43,479]

4 hours ago, Janz said:

The greatest strength of Lukaku is when he has space behind the defence, then he is one of the best in the world. But they are using Lukaku as a target man, although he improved a lot, he is technically not good enough for that.

The guy said he's a multidimensional striker these days. So, he should be able to adapt to different circumstances.

[Vesper 30,185]

On 27/12/2021 at 23:33, ZAPHOD2319 said:

 

Arthur Melo all day long over fraud Saul

[chelsea_4_eva 1,182]

Did anybody else read Lukaku's interview on Sky Sports? Also on Fabrizio Romano's IG..  About him being not happy at the situation here... WTF

Kinda feels like he regrets coming here lol.. *facepalm*

Edited December 30, 2021 by chelsea_4_eva

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, chelsea_4_eva said:

Did anybody else read Lukaku's interview on Sky Sports? Also on Fabrizio Romano's IG..  About him being not happy at the situation here... WTF

Kinda feels like he regrets coming here lol.. *facepalm*

Yes, just saw it.

This bit is interesting (cc @Tomo) :

https://football-italia.net/lukaku-expresses-Chelsea-regrets-and-inter-reunion-hopes/

“I am not happy with the situation at Chelsea, that is normal. I think the coach chose to play a different system, I just have to not give up, keep working and be professional. I am not happy with the situation, but I’m a hard worker and I mustn’t give up.”

And then there's also this:

“I really, genuinely from the bottom of my heart hope to come back to Inter, not at the end of my career, but while I am still at the level to win more trophies.”

[DANILA 290]

I don't blame him thinking that, all we do is hoofball from rudiger to Lukaku, highly similar to what we did with Giroud... No chances or goals created from open play, only Jorginho PK or corner/cross

Tuchel needs to change formation and figure out how we attack.

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

Shock horror. 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, DANILA said:

I don't blame him thinking that, all we do is hoofball from rudiger to Lukaku, highly similar to what we did with Giroud... No chances or goals created from open play, only Jorginho PK or corner/cross

Tuchel needs to change formation and figure out how we attack.

I find it absolutely hilarious that all the talk has been we have to adapt to his strengths and not the other way around or even both parties adapting to one another. With all that talk, you would think Lukaku is Ronaldo or Messi that they have all the goals, trophies to back up their greatness and "force" teams to adapt to their strengths but he's neither like one of them and has only ONE major trophy in the bag. On top of that, this is a fella who said only a few days that he's a multidimensional striker these days, someone who has improved from his days at Inter. So, he should be adapt to different tactical needs etc. 

[DANILA 290]

1 minute ago, Jase said:

I find it absolutely hilarious that all the talk has been we have to adapt to his strengths and not the other way around or even both parties adapting to one another. With all that talk, you would think Lukaku is Ronaldo or Messi that they have all the goals, trophies to back up their greatness and "force" teams to adapt to their strengths but he's neither like one of them and has only ONE major trophy in the bag. On top of that, this is a fella who said only a few days that he's a multidimensional striker these days, someone who has improved from his days at Inter. So, he should be adapt to different tactical needs etc. 

Fine, but what we have now is not tactics. Sorry, but hoofing it up to him and hoping for the best is not something he should need to adapt to, it's the football of League 1 level. We clearly need to get better offensively including final third passing play and transition from defense to offense.