Romelu Lukaku

[lionsden 4,689]

Benitez fucked us over on that one. RDM played a part as well but he was apparently "injured" before he was sacked.

How could an interim manager fuck us over. you are implying that the board gave interim that much power and authority which I highly doubt. Even if rafa wanted him out, the ultimate decision still lies with the board.

bottomline is Roman,Emenalo and co didn't see sturridge as a valuable asset worth keeping and I suspect football politics was largely at play with the decision. big error of judgement.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

Rom is the best under 21 striker in the world. The question is not, is he good enough but will we give a young striker a chance

[iseah100 5,612]

Costa-Dzeko-Lukaku-Eto'o

[Yeboii 1,844]

Costa-Dzeko-Lukaku-Eto'o

Talking about overkill!

[iseah100 5,612]

Talking about overkill!

#YOLO

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Scored again, bringing his season total to 15 goals and 6 assists. (One more goal and one less assist than Hazard. Weird. I wonder how many potential Hazard assists were wasted this year. )

Well, the game's not finished, but still...

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Scored again, bringing his season total to 15 goals and 6 assists. (One more goal and one less assist than Hazard. Weird. I wonder how many potential Hazard assists were wasted this year. )

Well, the game's not finished, but still...

So 2 less than last year

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

So 2 less than last year

Hehe, true, but he also played less matches right?

[Stats 7,141]

11 of his 15 PL goals have come in the second half this season. Says a lot. Perfect back up/impact striker needed for us and on top of that he hopefully will get some starts to. Costa and Lukaku next season. Yes please!

[gr123 167]

11 of his 15 PL goals have come in the second half this season. Says a lot. Perfect back up/impact striker needed for us and on top of that he hopefully will get some starts to. Costa and Lukaku next season. Yes please!

Can't see him being happy with being an impact sub for us - he's pretty much been first choice for West Brom and Everton hasn't he? Would like to see him back for next season though.

[Stats 7,141]

Can't see him being happy with being an impact sub for us - he's pretty much been first choice for West Brom and Everton hasn't he? Would like to see him back for next season though.

He won't be but he will be at a team fighting for all major trophies and he still will get his games. Who knows, if he is lucky might even partner Costa up front. But on our perspective we need reliable strikers and if that means keeping him here then so be it. City have clinical strikers as do Liverpool. We need them now as well.

[Tomo 21,751]

I really think that the Lukaku factor is being massively overplayed.

Their seems to be this general consensus that he's our best forward and if we kept him we would have been champions, personally i don't think either are true.

Eto'o has managed 12 in all comps despite being heavily rotated and barely getting full 90 minutes all season, under the same circumstances i reckon Lukaku would have got around the same tally for us.

If Eto'o and Lukaku both stay to back up our new forward presumably Costa, you will be in for a shock when Jose regularly choses the maturity and experience of Samuel of the bench and when Costa is unavailable.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I really think that the Lukaku factor is being massively overplayed.

Their seems to be this general consensus that he's our best forward and if we kept him we would have been champions, personally i don't think either are true.

Eto'o has managed 12 in all comps despite being heavily rotated and barely getting full 90 minutes all season, under the same circumstances i reckon Lukaku would have got around the same tally for us.

If Eto'o and Lukaku both stay to back up our new forward presumably Costa, you will be in for a shock when Jose regularly choses the maturity and experience of Samuel of the bench and when Costa is unavailable.

He's not YET world-class but you can't deny that he's our best striker right now (he's proven it over the course of the season) and will have perhaps given us the extra 4-5 points needed to win the league. Case in point: The Aston Villa and Crystal Palace away games where Torres was absolutely pathetic.

Our options are:

Fernando "I can't score goals to save my life" Torres

Samuel "I only come to play home games" Eto'o

Demba "slightly above average" Ba.

Sure, they've been rotated, but there is a reason why they've been rotated and that's that none of them are good enough for a title chasing side.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Also, here's some other interesting facts on Lukaku's goal-scoring record.

12/13 - 17 goals in 35 apps for WBA 13/14 - 15 goals in 31 apps for Everton

In fact, Lukaku has out-scored Drogba, our greatest ever striker, in 6 of his 8 seasons at Chelsea with the only exceptions being in 2006/07 and 2009/10! This is a Drogba who joined us at 25, at the best moment of his footballing career, playing for one of the most expensively assembled teams in the world.

Lukaku on the other hand, at age 19(!) in his first full season in English football, scored 17 goals in a horrible West Brom side were he was even played out of position to accommodate Shane Long.

He repeated the feat in an Everton side entirely dependent on him to score goals.

Some (like myself in the past), complain about his first touch, but that's something that comes with age. His first touch, in the first place has a lot to do with how massive he is. Also, back to my Drogba comparison, Didier didn't exactly have the best first touch in his first 2 seasons at Chelsea either. It was something that improved tremendously at Chelsea.

There's no doubt that Romelu is the biggest striking talent in the world right now. If we are to sign Diego Costa (who is 25 as well), then we are going to have to look for ways to become more flexible with our system. I won't mind seeing a 4-4-2 (flat or diamond) against opposition we are expected to beat at Stamford Bridge. A front two of Costa and Romelu sounds insane on paper and with Matic being a midfield lynch-pin, we have the glue to hold it together.

Besides, last time we won the league under Ancelotti, we played a lot of games with a 4-4-2 with Didier and Anelka up front. Safe to say, that season, we broke the premier league goal-scoring record and Drogba, Anelka and Lampard had their best seasons ever in a Chelsea shirt.

[Tomo 21,751]

He's not YET world-class but you can't deny that he's our best striker right now (he's proven it over the course of the season) and will have perhaps given us the extra 4-5 points needed to win the league. Case in point: The Aston Villa and Crystal Palace away games where Torres was absolutely pathetic.

Our options are:

Fernando "I can't score goals to save my life" Torres

Samuel "I only come to play home games" Eto'o

Demba "slightly above average" Ba.

Sure, they've been rotated, but there is a reason why they've been rotated and that's that none of them are good enough for a title chasing side.

I think Eto'o would be fine as a squad option next year, his experience alone would be invaluable not to mention he is a big game player, the other 2 however can't leave soon enough.

Regarding the 2 games i agree with Villa as they were leaving stupid amount of space, Palace played with such a low block he would have found it tough. That said he would have buried the chance Torres got in that game.