Martinez: Lukaku can do it all

, 30 November, 23comments  |  Jump to most recent
Roberto Martinez has again hailed his record signing, Romelu Lukaku, saying that he wouldn't trade a player who is, in his opinion, already the complete striker for someone like Jamie Vardy.

Vardy is the talk of the English game at the moment having broken the record for the number of consecutive Premier League games with a goal following his strike against Manchester United on Saturday.

The Leicester forward, already an England international thanks to his goals this season, continued his fairytale rise from non-league football with his 14th of the season as the Foxes held Louis van Gaal's expensive outfit to a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium.

Lukaku, meanwhile, scored his 10th league goal of 2015-16 in the Blues' ultimately disappointing 3-3 draw at Bournemouth and he drew more plaudits from his manager in the wake of the match.

“I think it has always been the case that Rom, with the potential he has, is perfect for us," Martinez said of the £28m capture from Chelsea when asked how he would compare him to Vardy.

“How we want to play, how we want to develop our team, he is a striker who can do it all. He has the old fashioned traits – he can have his back to play, the strength, the power.

"But he can also run with the ball and is a clinical finisher. At the age of 22 you can see from his scoring record what he is. That is why we made a huge investment in him.

“We always had an incredible belief in Rom but now he is in a good moment in scoring. He is so important for us.

“We will keep working with him, keep making him enjoy his football because when he does he is very hard to defeat.”

 

Reader Comments (23)

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Chris Gould
1 Posted 30/11/2015 at 07:58:12
I'd love to see Vardy alongside Lukaku, but not in place of him. Vardy was all about pace and effort, but now he's also become a clinical finisher. He now has the belief of a top class striker and that can make all the difference. Lukaku can be as good as he wants to be.
Mark Andersson
2 Posted 30/11/2015 at 07:59:17
The big man is good but is not as Martinez states already the complete striker. He has more work to do on his first touch with his back to goal. Martinez loves to big his players up, and Rom and his agent will be looking for a move as soon as anyone with the right price comes knocking.

Saturday's shambolic 2nd half and great first half shows that this team and manager need to work harder on their weaknesses. I have faith in Rom improving but no faith in Martinez learning from his mistakes.

Duncan McDine
3 Posted 30/11/2015 at 08:16:01
I don’t think you can compare the two. Rom is very young in comparison and although its a great story about Vardy (non league etc), I’d be surprised if he goes on to notch 15 to 20 goals per season in the top division for the next five years. Rom, on the other hand, has what it takes.
Paul Andrews
4 Posted 30/11/2015 at 08:23:03
I agree with Martinez 100%

Lukaku will develop into one of the best strikers in Europe.

Geoff Risebrow
5 Posted 30/11/2015 at 09:28:36
Romelu Lukaku is currently the best striker in the Premier League in my opinion and long may his current form continue!

Jamie Vardy has been sensational and I love stories like his but he isn’t in the same league as Big Rom.

Colin Glassar
6 Posted 30/11/2015 at 10:32:21
Same here Duncan. Vardy is now in the spotlight and everyone will be gunning for him now and managers will be plotting how to stop him. (Stop Mahrez(?) and you stop Leicester, IMO.)

Rom, on the other hand, is unstoppable. He’s like a runaway freight train when he gets going; there’s no comparison. Give me Rom any day with Mahrez(?) alongside him.

Peter Roberts
7 Posted 30/11/2015 at 12:33:00
I am wary of Martinez bigging Lukaku up – a few times he has done this Rom seemingly takes his foot off the gas.

I am a big critic of Lukaku – not because I don’t think he is a good player, it's because his attitude is not always where it needs to be. My secondary concerns are that he is not a complete striker. He has improved a lot but his play with back to goal can be a bit worrying.

I think it is clear, however, that he has been coached in order to improve his all-round game and I’m sure I can see Big Dunc's influence in some of the things he is doing.

I would sooner see Martinez continue to throw the gauntlet down to Rom; nothing wrong with praise but stop calling him 'complete'. I have seen a few complete performances from him, but not as many as I think he can provide.

Anthony Lewis
8 Posted 30/11/2015 at 13:01:46
Interesting to see that Rom is bagging the goals for fun now he has Geri setting him up. I think these two young lads are key to any success in the next 6 months or so. And you can see they clearly love playing together.
Tim Wardrop
9 Posted 30/11/2015 at 13:46:06
I agreed, Peter (5). Lukaku has got all the tools, but sometimes he traps the ball further than most players kick it and for a big man he doesn’t show enough strength at holding defenders off as he should.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan. But there’s a lot of room for improvement yet, and Martinez should be saying so.

Dave Pritchard
10 Posted 30/11/2015 at 14:17:08
Tim, your comments about Rom's trapping and strength were true last season. I have been impressed with his close control and more physical approach this season.
Peter Roberts
11 Posted 30/11/2015 at 14:29:13
Dave – "impressed" by control and strength is something I would say about Big Dunc, Shearer, Rooney. He has improved from being appalling up to acceptable – it really was worrying how bad his touch was and how easy smaller players could push him off the ball.

That said "he has improved noticably" – my concerns are that he could rest on his laurels. If he carries on improving, then we will have a £50M asset on our side. If he becomes that, then expect his agent to get him moved.

Dave Abrahams
12 Posted 30/11/2015 at 14:45:17
I take no notice of what Martinez says about our players: it’s just one long love-in, the way he praises them. I’d be much more impressed if he worked on (or got somebody to work on) all the faults in the team.

Start practicing attacking and defending corners for start, and stop these slow starts and taking their foot off the pedal when we go a couple of goals up. There is a lot of work to be done to improve this team. Give it a rest, Robbie; a lot of us take no notice of your constant praise – most of it is way over the top.

Kevin Tully
13 Posted 30/11/2015 at 15:00:36
I don’t know why, but after Saturday’s result, tomorrow’s game has suddenly taken on a greater significance for many, including myself.

What could sound like a decent season so far – 8 points off the Premier League leaders and into the semi-final of a cup we’ve never won, or alternatively, 9th in the League and dumped out of a cup competition by lower League opposition!

I like to the sound of the "glass half-full" option, the second scenario could see a mutiny. Personally, I think it’s a good thing we are expecting some return from our players & manager. Standards have been set far too low in the past. 7th is mid-table and nowhere for me.

Eddie Dunn
14 Posted 30/11/2015 at 16:47:40
Do the media demand these regular comments from our boss?
After the crazy game on Saturday, I would have thought that after watching the video, Roberto might have shared some insight into what went wrong, with us fans.

Not really the time to blather on about how marvellous our striker is.

Dave Pritchard
15 Posted 30/11/2015 at 17:20:11
OK Peter @10. We both agree that Rom has improved although you are much harder to impress than I am. However, on Dunc, I was the one who was hard to impress as I never rated him as highly as many others.
Chris Gould
16 Posted 30/11/2015 at 17:30:30
I disagree with those that think Vardy's balloon will burst. I think he's simply a late bloomer like Ian Wright and Kevin Phillips. He would enhance our side. His effort shames/inspires his teammates into working equally hard.
Gavin Johnson
17 Posted 30/11/2015 at 17:37:02
Chris (#15). What about ’butcher boy’ Stuart Barlow?!
Des Farren
18 Posted 30/11/2015 at 19:08:58
Yes, Martinez is going to share some insight, ie castigate his players, on what went wrong to fans and media alike.

Or, he could decide to compliment Rom.

Which course is likely to get the most from his players?

Harold Matthews
19 Posted 30/11/2015 at 20:15:27
Comparing Lukaku with Vardy is pointless. Fine if we were deciding which one to buy but we're not. The big fella is already here and scoring goals with both feet and his head. Still some way from being the finished article, he is obviously working on all aspects of his role within the team and has formed a successful partnership with Deulofeu.

Following the Atletico Madrid "Aguero-Forlan-Falcao" model, Martinez got the club to splash the cash on a goal scoring striker who would help bring success before moving on for big bucks. Also, with Atletico academy boys Fernando Torres, Raul and De Gea in mind, Martinez has brought in Dennis Lawrence to help accelerate the best youngsters and Joe Royle to help with the lads who have been loaned out.

Most will be lucky to find a decent career somewhere but one or two may be future stars and we can't afford to let them slip through the net.

Ian Riley
20 Posted 30/11/2015 at 22:34:19
No point in Lukaku banging in the goals if we cannot keep them out! Sort out the defending!

Steering away from Saturday’s performance like a politician. I lost some respect for Martinez for not coming out on Saturday and saying how disappointed he was with our second-half performance. I sometimes think we have a pundit more than a manager.
David Benson
21 Posted 30/11/2015 at 22:48:58
I’ve always feared that Lukaku will move on in a big money move next summer. I hope I’m wrong but if he carries on scoring in the Premier League he will be in the Belgian starting 11 in the Euros.

Play well for a couple of games there, score one good goal and we could get £45-55m for him. I think Elstone probably had that in mind when we signed him... £20m profit.
Peter Gorman
22 Posted 01/12/2015 at 01:17:15
Des 18, you think the carrot is better than the stick? Not on the evidence from Bournemouth. Give the players too many carrots and they end up acting like donkeys.

And Bobby BS; please just shut up.

Abhishek Saha
23 Posted 01/12/2015 at 06:57:38
Does anyone have any clue what would our back four look like against Boro? I don't think Bobby has much to play with there. Hence, just checking whether anyone has any byte on Baines or any others likely to start in our back four.

Regarding the rest of the team, I am sure Bobby is going tinker with the team like a toddler on a jigsaw puzzle but will still not be able to come up with a winning combination. But that's a different story.

COYB!


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