Romelu Lukaku

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

According to A.Bola:

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku is a top target for Borussia Dortmund who are looking to replace Robert Lewandowski

Also according to abola:

Benfica might sell Rodrigo for 35M and buy Morata for 7M. Nothing to see here mate.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

How are Dembele or Defour not creative?

Even Witsel could just as easily play as a 10.

As I said before, the main problem is we take to long to get the ball upfront. If you play with Lukaku as the deep striker, you should go for quick counters, and not playing lateral balls all the time...

Well i meant more in the sense of creative passing. Although i wouldn't call them creative, they're technically gifted players but they really don't create a lot of chances.

It basically ties in with what you said . Dembele and Witsel take 2 long on the ball. They prefer playing it sideways or holding on to the ball rather then make a forward pass.

For Witsel it's understandable as he plays as a DM so it makes sense to not take a lot of risks.

We lack a player who can really set the tempo and hit those long range passes that speed up the play. We lack a Gundogan, Alonso type a player. And indeed Wilmots his lack of tactical knowledge doesn't help either.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Our main problem is the lack of a capable manager. Wilmots + Borkelmans in charge of the most talented Belgian team ever? Such a waste.

That's bullshit in my eyes. We had a "capable" manager with Dick Advocaat. He did jack shit. This guy is the first coach in 10 years who actually makes them win.

Ok, the team is better now, but advocaat had the bulk of the current players at his expense, be it a little younger.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Don't want to start beef but Defour is creative?? He doesn't start for a Porto team that's in dire need of that... I think he's kinda meh

He was a playmaker for years at standard. I don't understand why Porto doesn't play him. He's one of the few players that almost never disappoints in the Belgian team. For me he should almost always start...

[zolayes 14,489]

According to A.Bola:

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku is a top target for Borussia Dortmund who are looking to replace Robert Lewandowski

We can't stop them dreaming ...

[Weckerz 3,781]

That's bullshit in my eyes. We had a "capable" manager with Dick Advocaat. He did jack shit. This guy is the first coach in 10 years who actually makes them win.

Ok, the team is better now, but advocaat had the bulk of the current players at his expense, be it a little younger.

Advocaat was manager for less than 6 months, not sure where you're going with this. Wilmots made them get along in the dressing room, united the Flemish and Walloons, hats off for that.

What else makes him a good manager? He had one job as manager before at Sint-Truiden (lol) winning 2 out of 22 games. His assistent Borkelmans was manager in a second division club managing to get them relegated before becoming Wilmots right hand man.

He uses 1 formation and the odd 4-4-2 for 10 mins to try Benteke and Lukaku together. He has no plan during a game, he expects Hazard or De Bruyne to come up with something special to scrape a win.

He's extremely lucky to be in this position now that our players are reaching their mid-twenties. His shortcomings as a tactician will hurt us when things go bad in Brazil. He isn't a man with a plan, and unfortunately the person next to him is Vital Borkelmans, not exactly the guy to come up with a masterplan either.

[Moros 86]

Advocaat was manager for less than 6 months, not sure where you're going with this. Wilmots made them get along in the dressing room, united the Flemish and Walloons, hats off for that.

Which is exactly what we needed most. Also Great coach or not. If Belgium goes through the first round, they did well. If they can win the match after that they did very good. But that would already be unlikely any further and they'd have done an amazing job. Face it this tournament is just for them getting to know the feeling and the experience. 4 years later, when the foundations are made, experience is there and the players have grown, then they need a tactician and possibly go far. Now they should just have some fun surviving the first round. And so should we.

[MAF 162]

The problem with Wilmots and Borkelmans is not so much that theyre going to be our coaches in Brazil. most people would argue that theyve earned that. what bothers me is that it looks like they'll get new contracts before they the tournament starts and we'll be stuck with them for the next campaign aswell.

EDIT: this discussion should probably be moved to the NT thread though.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

What makes him a good coach is that 1. He has won every important match since he was appointed and 2. His players would walk through a fire for him and would pay his new wages out of their own salary if they needed to...

Getting someone else now would be mistake of catastrophic proportions...

[Stingray 9,441]

What makes him a good coach is that 1. He has won every important match since he was appointed and 2. His players would walk through a fire for him and would pay his new wages out of their own salary if they needed to...

Getting someone else now would be mistake of catastrophic proportions...

True that ... but i don't see him as a tactical wonder nonetheless

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

He uses 1 formation and the odd 4-4-2 for 10 mins to try Benteke and Lukaku together. He has no plan during a game, he expects Hazard or De Bruyne to come up with something special to scrape a win.

How do you explain the fact that most of his tactical team changes or subs actually had a big impact on the game? Putting De Bruyne in the starting eleven (his idea, was certainly not the most popular option at the time), putting Defour in the team for the match in Serbia (if I'm correct), making Witsel play as a number six, et cetera.

The man is not stupid. Until now, we can't really blame him for any errors, because there simply weren't any. The fact it's not really a fast playing team is more because of the players we have than because of staff...

[BlueLion. 21,491]

If Dortmund want him, they can have him in exchange for Gundogan or Reus. Ta very much.

[didierforever 7,349]

If Dortmund want him, they can have him in exchange for Gundogan or Reus. Ta very much.

why? we seriously can make do without reus with the limitless talented AMs we have at our disposal.

as for gundogan, we can buy him for 20mil rather than exchanging our only good striker and then going into the transfer market to buy a couple of WC strikers.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

If Dortmund want him, they can have him in exchange for Gundogan or Reus. Ta very much.

Gundogan injury prone no thanks, Reus got £30m release clause and don't really play at ST so naaa but Hummels or Subotic would be fine though :Dactually Bender+some money is alright too imo

[The only place to be 11,313]

Just saw Barry's goal for Everton. Lukaku controls a hoofed ball forwards nicely and then with his back to goal lays it off for Barry to score. He can do a lot of the things people seem to criticise him for not being able to do, but it's simply consistency that he needs. That will come with age.

Also unlucky not to score himself, but took his 'goal' well.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Just saw Barry's goal for Everton. Lukaku controls a hoofed ball forwards nicely and then with his back to goal lays it off for Barry to score. He can do a lot of the things people seem to criticise him for not being able to do, but it's simply consistency that he needs. That will come with age.

Also unlucky not to score himself, but took his 'goal' well.

It's stuff like that that I want to see more often from Romelu. Intelligent play, bringing in others, linking up well. He did well indeed and if he does that more regularly he'd have an easy time here at CFC when he comes back.

[The Mak 4,459]

Need a laugh?

Transfer News: Everton have to wait to find out future of Romelu Lukaku

Everton boss Roberto Martinez says Chelsea are not going to listen to any offers for Romelu Lukaku at the moment.

The Toffees boss has made no secret that they would love to keep the Belgian youngster, who has impressed hugely since signing on loan on transfer deadline day in September.

Lukaku has bagged nine Premier League goals already, but Martinez admits the club know they are wasting their time making any approach at the moment.

"I know Chelsea are not contemplating listening to any offers and Romelu is highly regarded there," Martinez told the Guardian.

"It's not in the agreement [to discuss a January transfer]. The agreement we have with Chelsea is that we will wait until the end of the season and as parent club they need to be the ones that give us the hint if it's possible or not.

"I rate Romelu as one of the best strikers in European football now. We want to keep Romelu as long as we can, but the reality is he's on loan for the season.

"They need to be the ones that give us the hint if it's possible or not in the future.

"As you can imagine the situation is we need to wait until the end of the season.

"Rom is enjoying his football. He knows he's here until the end of the season and I don't think it would be beneficial to anyone to go into a conversation that's not going to change the agreement we have until May."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9121531/transfer-news-everton-have-to-wait-to-find-out-future-of-romelu-lukaku

I didn't know Roberto Martinez smoked? No? Because he must be smoking something!

[The only place to be 11,313]

Need a laugh?

Transfer News: Everton have to wait to find out future of Romelu Lukaku

Everton boss Roberto Martinez says Chelsea are not going to listen to any offers for Romelu Lukaku at the moment.

The Toffees boss has made no secret that they would love to keep the Belgian youngster, who has impressed hugely since signing on loan on transfer deadline day in September.

Lukaku has bagged nine Premier League goals already, but Martinez admits the club know they are wasting their time making any approach at the moment.

"I know Chelsea are not contemplating listening to any offers and Romelu is highly regarded there," Martinez told the Guardian.

"It's not in the agreement [to discuss a January transfer]. The agreement we have with Chelsea is that we will wait until the end of the season and as parent club they need to be the ones that give us the hint if it's possible or not.

"I rate Romelu as one of the best strikers in European football now. We want to keep Romelu as long as we can, but the reality is he's on loan for the season.

"They need to be the ones that give us the hint if it's possible or not in the future.

"As you can imagine the situation is we need to wait until the end of the season.

"Rom is enjoying his football. He knows he's here until the end of the season and I don't think it would be beneficial to anyone to go into a conversation that's not going to change the agreement we have until May."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9121531/transfer-news-everton-have-to-wait-to-find-out-future-of-romelu-lukaku

I didn't know Roberto Martinez smoked? No? Because he must be smoking something!

Am I the only one who can't see anything 'crazy' about what he's said there? He's basically stated that there's no chance of him signing in this window and that the player's status would be assessed by us in the summer.