Lukaku on target again for Belgium

Put these three lads into the hands of a tough, experienced manager who will work on their weaknesses, while developing their natural talents, and I think you will see a different animal. Look at poor Ross for example, he looks like a lost soul on the pitch. Doesn't know what to do, what position to take up, to tackle or shadow etc.... It's a fucking crime in my book.

Except the goal it is hard to say what he really contributes with tonight.

Janssen from AZ in the Eredivisie- 21years old, ambidextrous, top scorer in the league.

Strong, holds the ball well, around quality, and a good attitude - which Rom proved to us, is vital!

First choice striker for Netherlands already - and with Koeman hopefully coming in, we should be able to get him!

Janssen (ST)
Wijnaldum (CM)
Ziyech (CAM/RW/LW)

Would be my 3 first signings -
Along with Mat Ryan (GK) from Valencia and a right sided central defender, to replace Jagielka in a season or two - someone like Dragovic, strong and good in the air - no nonsense, while still good with the ball.

I'd play stones at CDM!

GK: Ryan, Robles (personally hope we get a better back up)

RB: Coleman, Kenny, Connelly

RCB: Dragovic, Jagielka, Browning,

LCB: Funes Mori, Galloway, Foulds

LB: Baines, Garbutt, Oviedo

CDM: Stones, McCarthy, Besic

CM: Wijnaldum, Cleverley, Davies

CAM: Barkley, Dowell, Tarashaj

RW: Deulofeu, Lennon, (Tarashaj), (Ziyech)

LW: Ziyech, Mirallas, (Tarashaj)

ST: Janssen, Niasse, (Tarashaj)

---------------

4-1-1-1-3 / 4-1-1-3-1

Ryan
Coleman Jagielka Funes Mori Baines
Stones
Wijnaldum
Barkley
Deulofeu Janssen Ziyech

Robles, Dragovic, Garbutt, Besic, Tarashaj, Mirallas, Niasse.

Send Galloway on loan - get him fit, and muscled up!

That is all

Lukaku is a good striker, and he gets his fair share of goals. He just isn't a good enough finisher, in my opinion, to be considered as a predator.

He was in sparkling form right up until the period after our semi final with Man Utd; he scored that wonder goal and I remember many people at the time saying they wouldn't swap him for any other PL striker. Rom could quite easily have finished the season top PL scorer... but his form after was truly woeful - he was nothing but a passenger. That can be the same criticism aimed at many of our players because it was clear they no longer wanted to play for Martinez. But Rom, his dad and his agent continually bang on about how he should be playing in the CL for one of the top clubs... well I'm afraid he should've applied himself much better because if a top club is going to fork out £60 million on a player, they are going to want a player with the right attitude - not a player that picks and chooses when to perform. It's all well and good being ambitious... but he has to do the working hard bit as well.

I really hope he has a good tournament so his market value will be highly inflated. I'm fed up with him thinking he's too big for our club. Good riddance.

The only time Lukaku resembled a predator was when he had his deadlocks!

Happier still if he, his Dad, granddad, agent, pedicurist, dry cleaner, etc, keep their gobs shut.

Rest of it is a bit football manager don't you think? More to buying players than what you suggest.

Of the two, I'd sooner keep Lukaku, but then again he's always whining on about wanting Champions League football so sell them both.

It's no use blaming Martinez for everything including the weather when we don't have a clue what really went on in training etc.
Stones doesn't look a natural defender to me; get rid. He gave me the jitters every time he was in our defence.

Pretty going forward but, as a defender, not pretty – add to that he didn't waste any time wanting to go to Chelsea, did he?

I've never seen or heard of a 4-1-1-1-3 formation and the team you've listed looks like it's got 5 defenders and 5 attackers – seems to be missing something....

Fuck him I say, he's not as good as he thinks he is; it's okak doing the runs out of defence and Panenkas. We all knew lads who had the tricks at school but couldn't do it on the pitch, and he just can't defend competently... 㿔-50m and we can buy someone better, or promote one of the younger lads to the 1st team

We still don't have a manager were no longer a selling club, however what is the point of keeping any player that wants to go.

Bring in the right manager and players and take a leaf out of last seasons champions.

Lukaku is not a natural scorer?

Firstly - there is no such thing as a natural scorer. There are players that score. They were not born with a natural awareness of where to stand in the penalty area and how to put their foot through a football.

Next - scuffing a ball does not mean that a player is not a 'natural' scorer. Ruud Van Nistelrooy was a scuffer and he was also one of the finest penalty box strikers in modern football. Do any of those using the 'natural' goal scorer tag think Nistelrooy wasn't one of those?

You might argue that Lukaku is not a 'natural' footballer, by which one would mean that he is not technically gifted. You could argue that because his touch sometimes lets him down. Of course, his touch is not actually that bad, but for some bizzare reason certain fans exaggerate the weaknesses of our players without watching other teams play football, and other strikers miss-control balls.

Lukaku is a 'natural' goal scorer, even if there is no such thing as a natural goal scorer, because he scores goals! It is not possible to argue in the same breath that Lukaku doesn't have a good first touch, has poor positioning and is not natural goal scorer! How exactly does he score so many goals then?

Can someone explain that to me? Lukaku managed 119 goals before his 23rd birthday, including 60 in the Premier league in 4 seasons.

Lukaku scored more league goals this season than any other Everton player has in the Premier League era. He is the first player since Sharpe to score 20plus goals in successive seasons. He scored in 8 successive games this season, and was the first Everton player to do so in over half a century. He has scored 7 successive goals against the same opponent (West Ham). Dixie Dean was the last player to do that.

And he turned 23 last month.

Some of you guys can lie to yourselves as much as you want. You can throw your toys out the pram, as you did a year ago when Lukaku's form had dropped, because he wants to leave. But Lukaku is a demonstrably great striker. He knows where to stand. He is a finisher. He can run at players, he can hassle players, and he can link up play. His 6 assists this season, which is more than Kane and Aguero combined, demonstrate that.

Lukaku may be arrogant. He may be wrong for talking about a move away from Goodison. But a player can be arrogant, overly boastful, disrespectful and still be a top player. Two things will happen this summer: Lukaku will leave, and we will get at least £45million from the sale. This would represent a significant profit. Or Lukaku will stay because we don't want to sell him/persuade him that we have enough ambition. But one thing will stay the same: Lukaku will remain one of the best prospects in world football. Why? Because he knows where the goal is. This season's 25 goals testifies to that.

Sorry to disagree but Roberto was responsible for the debacle at Everton last two seasons, and Moyes' defense carried him through the season before. Refer to the following:-

He spurned the opportunity to play the youngsters. He deconstructed the medical team. He failed to manage the key components and the general structure of the team. He played players too soon when coming back from injury. He undermined the position of Tim Howard. He allowed utter dross to be bought into the club. He irritated all listeners with repetitive use of adjectives. He confused all listeners at press conferences. He allowed cliques to develop within the dressing room. He scuppered the careers of Jags and Baines (in parallel with injuries). He managed to turn Coleman into a non effective player. He isolated Garbutt. He alienated Distin. He was inconsistent with the players eg Baines and Lukau. He did not understand the importance of fitness. He ignored Connelly after a spirited debut game. He refused to acknowledge his responsibilities and blamed everyone and everything for the failings around and within. He failed to discipline Rom for his continued disrespect for the Club and his team mates. He continuously talked up the opposition before games before they started. He continuously talked up the performances after we lost. He did not understand the timing of substitutions. He was guilty of playing people out of position. He did not understand the basic principles of how defense. He surrounded himself with psychophantic yes men to reinforce his ego. He concentrated on public relationships and personal marketing to deflect attention from his actual lack of ability. He cost the Club millions. He dropped Naysmith after scoring a perfect hat-trick. He Wiganized Everton.

OK perhaps he wasn't responsible for the weather, but just about every other negative thing at the Club. A small consolation is he may read ToffeeWeb and some of the barrage of heartfelt criticism may get through his elephanthide skin, but I doubt it.

Did the same guy pen really pen these sentences ?

I'm guessing the irony is lost

Someone above said we don't know what goes on behind doors - true, we don't but these lads do. Maybe they've seen the way things were going behind closed doors and the didn't like it. Maybe they've seen, and heard, things that made them think they weren't going to achieve their goals at Everton. Who knows? But there's a new kid in town now. Maybe he can excite them and get them enthused about Everton once again.

Lukaku will bring more money in a transfer than almost all the rest of our first team squad put together... For the record, I dearly hope that our next manager can convince Lukaku to stay at least another season as, without him I dread the future.

I have waited for the over rated Barkley and Stones to realize their supposed potential and I still cannot fathom what position would suit Barkley. He is not defensive but does not score often enough. He is not creative enough and lacks stamina. I don't know whether he should start or come on as a super sub as he does not see games out well.

Deulofeu is another enigma, started the season very well and provided assists for Lukaku but then drifted quite poorly. Mirallas is another very inconsistent player who blows hot and cold.

Without Jags at centre back we suffer defensively. Barry is coming close to the end of his career and we do not have a younger edition ready to take his place.

I am not over enthused about Besic, Cleverley and McCarthy as they are IMO drones. Just average midfielders who are not of sufficient class to play in a side with Championship ambitions. None of those three would get into to any top six side.

We are carrying a lot of ageing has-beens and a few never-wases eg; Gibson, Kone, McGeady etc etc. Niassie looks like a really poor waste of money. A player costing over 㾹 million should be slotting into the first team, otherwise, why buy him?

We need to move far quicker in the transfer windows as we never get any supposed targets.

All the above is correct and the new manager has got a tremendous job to perform to change the attitude and ambitions of our once great club. As a long -tanding Evertonian I hope and pray that the new manager has the midas touch.

When was the last time we had that?

Imagine if the whole team hadn't fallen out with Bobby? He could have ended up with the Golden Boot and we might have been fighting for a Europa League place.

On the minus side, he is a big headed dick (however, which forward isn't?)

Arrogance is a good quality sometimes but he is nowhere as good as he believes he is, but saying that I hope he stays... which is unlikely.

Back to doing what he does best, scoring goals against crummy defenses whilst showing the touch of an elephant.

Let's hope he nets a few and gets the big bids in. Can't wait to see the back of him.

I don't think the whole team fell out with Martinez based on comments from Barry and Howard.

When and if Lukaku leaves who will score the plus 20 goals that is required from a striker ? When you can answer that question I will wait with bated breath.

Looks like we are fucked then, unless you are wrong of course. I don't think we are as poor as you make out and if some players move out some will move in to take their places. Let's give Mr. Moshiri a chance to try and change the face of the Everton we have had to endure under the last chairman, I'll wager things will improve with Moshiri.

When we paid £28m for him it probably covered the combined cost of 15 strikers signed before him... that's how low we've had to shop. Yet a few of those strikers would beat him in a fair few aspects of the game.

Stop all the romanticism- he's bang average with a poor attitude. I expect us to spend half the money we get for him on a far better player.

Kanchelskis scored 16 in 95/6

Yakubu scored 15 in 2007/8

Saha scored 13 in 2009/10

Lukaku scored 15 in "013/14

Lukaku scored 18 in 2015/16

Lukaku is the only striker playing for EFC who appears twice in the past 20 years in the league top goal scorers column and he is by far the youngest.

Under Moyes the striker was never going to be the focal point of scoring goals... he used the 5th midfielder - Cahill or fellaini as the lucky recipient of the space created by the poor sod who had to run channels and distract the centre halves. Yak and Saha suffered terrible under Moyes, as did many a striker.

Too many of you got carried away like little 12 year old kids. Start watching football with your eyes, not reading stats.

The strike rate of Lukaku is awesome, most we've scored since whoever...Don't remember any striker scoring more goals since I started in 1990...

BUT, we're scoring more at the expense of conceding more. Would he score more under the OFFM system? Or any other more balanced system for that matter? And his first touch is still suspect. He seems unable to alter the game to lift the team, only doing well when the team plays to his style.

Then again, he's young and have time to fix that IF (AND ONLY IF) he wants to. Based on his recent public posturing, I can't be bothered with him when he's not playing for us. I highly doubt that attitude will carry him far.

Apparently Chelsea are wanting him, well so long as we make them pay over £50 million they can have him, and no I don't wish him any luck at all.

I played schoolboy football with Temple and A'Court and then played in the old third division north with Southport who was a league side then.I played against wainwright and grant who both played for Everton.

perhaps you played at a higher level ????

Most strikers are based on goals they score and many Everton strikers of the past did not have good all around ability.Catterick was pretty woeful as was Dodds and many others.Linekar, Cottee, latchford, Pickering, Royle, Hickson, John Willie Parker, Wainwright did not chase back or work in any other part of the pitch except the business end.Even Vernon and Young, both of whom had great first touches did not work much off the ball.

Guys like Johnson and Bent did everything except score enough goals to get themselves into the top scoring columns.

I prefer strikers who score goals I am afraid....players like Shearer, Linekar, Vernon, latchford, Aguero and LUKAKU who will improve as he gets older and more experienced.I just hope our top brass can persuade him to see out his contract with us as we can build a decent side around him.

I couldn't care less where my ability ranks against yours - my knowledge of forward play is that goals are only part of the measure of the player.

Give me a 13 prem goals a season striker who allows his team to advance their midfielders and defence in the knowledge that he will look after the ball versus a penalty box operator with a poor touch, awful work rate who requires a specific style of direct play to benefit.

Lukaku is no more a great forward than Tony Cottee... both have their own agenda that sits outside of the team. Give me the Peter Beardsley from 91 -92 any day of the week. You'd probably disagree with that.

We get it, you don't rate him. Give it a bleeding rest.

The one thing I would say is he worked far harder than Lukaku, was a better finisher.

Lineker and Lukaku highlight the fact that goals scored by the striker aren't everything. Strikers who enable the team to score whilst contributing themselves (suarez, Beardsley, rooney) are far more important.

A tendency of some posters on here is, as you both do in regard to your opinions about Lukaku, is to reference some personal life experience to give extra gravitas to your opinion.

Frankly, I think it's an irrelevance that you had a professional football career Trevor. After all, aren't many a ex-professional punter (quite rightly) ridiculed for some of the observations they make? Being an ex-pro doesn't guarantee your opinion is more valid than others.

Similarly Peter, I'm not convinced that training with Crewe as a spotty kid of 14 elevates you to Buddah-like status with greater insight in what makes a good striker.

I say that not to deny or denigrate your opinion on Romelu. Just to point out such self-acclamation doesn't wash it with me.

My own opinion on RL remains unchanged: if at all possible he should be retained. He is of the age and profile we should be recruiting, not offloading.

I also don't get this "he's only 23". Rooney was commanding games at 16. Pele was a world cup winner in his teens. I'd argue that if you can't trap a ball at 23, you will never learn that skill. The ability to control a football is bred-in.

It's important to me that we have players who want to be at Everton FC. Rom doesn't because he thinks he's too good. It's Fellaini all over again. Get shut.

It might be unpopular but I'd also get rid of Stones and Barkley and reinvest the money in better players, of which there are many.

These are exciting times but there is a lot of work to be done by Koeman or whoever becomes our next manager.

Aguero, takes multiple shots a game and will not score in every match. He averaged 3.6 shots per game in 45 games and ended up with 29 goals, including the champions league. Vardy, averaged 3.1 shots per game, played 42 games. He scored 27. Lukaku also averaged 3.1 shots per game in 47 games and ended up with 25 goals.

Any of those numbers nearing 50%? Not close. Strikers shoot more than they score, it's so damn simple and so idiotic to keep laying that as negative at the feet of Lukaku.

You couldn't make my point any more eloquently.

It is fair to say that aside from his goal tally (against mainly weaker teams) lukaku offers very little to the team. If anything his lack of ability in winning aerial duels, passing accuracy and inability to control and look after the ball makes him a liability.

Do these extra goals make it worthwhile having him in the team? For me no. It's not like he's getting 20 prem goals... he has averaged 14 prem goals in his 3 seasons... not bad but certainly not ground breaking enough to have a player who loses possession a ridiculous amount of times.

Sell now. Defenders have him sussed, he lacks the technique to evade close inspection.

I accept there is a case to be made to offload Lukaku.

You both have the tendency to either exaggerate or totally invent his failings and shortcomings.

As such, like Graham, given your evident dislike of the man, I don't find your opinions on the subject either convincing or credible.

Soz!

The lazy gibe is annoying though-anyone could see that the lad was starved of passes to run onto for all the second half of the season through all the slow build up and fannying at the back. Give him something over the defence to get after and he shows great pace and determination and can be unplayable.

Yes you are right. perhaps now it is time to let go. I have an appointment with my therapist next week so things should improve after that.

The thing is I was so nervous about the prospect of the relegated manager coming to the Blues (winning the Cup is a wonderful but often lucky achievement), but when we were rocking and rolling in his first season, and the bring Me Sunshine video was doing the rounds, then I was hooked. Trouncing the Arse only to be stumped by Crystal palace and 2 own goals against Southampton in the last two matches and I was really brought down to earth with a big wet whimper.

I still can't believe the guy could be so bloody stupid, arrogant, inflexible, pontificating, aloof, unrealistic, two-faced, smarmy, greedy, superficial, snake oiled, brown shoed, inconsistent, indefensible, . . . . Oh dear, there I go again, get me out of here!

I hope if he goes to a Premier League team and he spends most of the season sitting on the bench sulking –and we finish in the top four and he doesn't.

I played as a striker in the Manx leagues and I was constantly moving and thinking, always aware. I wasn't big but worked on becoming super fit and very fast. Lukaku has none of those attributes, he's just big and has a fair shot, but he's lazy, arrogant and not as fit as he should be.

Have a look at his stats (402 goals in 622 games)
Link

Then have a look at a few of his goals (when hatchet men were hatchet men)
Link

Then have listen to his take on his own ability at the beginning of this interview.
Link

He was a menace.

In the name of God no!! I can't take anymore Lukaku threads.

I really hope Ronald koeman assures lukaku that having the touch of an elephant isn't an issue, and when Rom decides to take a well earned rest on the pitch for 5 games at a time he keeps him on in the chance that a ball falls to him. It would be awful if Koeman identified a good quality striker who could push lukaku for a starting place. I would like us to see us keep kone and niasse in order that there will be no chance the fans would see the big man subbed. If one of these lads does a Naismith and shows more big game quality than lukaku then I want koeman to sell them to a struggling club for good money.

Please stay Rom... please? I'm that desperate for you to stay that I'm prepared to forgive you for your constant disrespect to a grand football club that has had more class players than you have scored goals. "

Hope your're still checking under your bed Mockers

Don't need to check under the bed, I sleep on a futon as an homage to the 80s.

I will be glad when he's gone though, it's like fucking Groundhog Day !

I believe that there should be an amnesty for every one of our players who has been the victim of Martinez.

Maybe these clubs watched the FA cup semi final...

You see, when proper good strikers become available the big clubs spend the money. Look at city right now with aubamayeng... meanwhile Rom keeps pimping himself.

We will get good money for him, I think it's PSG, they were stupid enough to spend £50m on David Luiz so there is hope. In the French league he may actually still con fans that he's a good player. He may even get the players around him that mean he doesn't have to run much.

For the love of God, you've set him off again.

One of the very best I ever saw, scored for fun, just put his hand up in the air after scoring for a couple of seconds, then ran back to the centre circle, ready to score again, no wild celebration like they just invented the wheel.

Jimmy claimed he never earned more than £100per week all the time he played football, this as a basic wage.

Some one on another thread claims football is better today, don't think so, well for me it definitely isn't.

I never saw live football until 1972 so I was never lucky enough to see Jimmy Greaves play but his goal scoring record speaks for itself.

The best five players I've seen play live

Colin Todd
Neville Southall
Peter Reid
Kenny Daglish ... I know but I saw him score three and lay on three in one game at Anfield.
Paul Gasgoine... But not in an Everton shirt