9 minutes ago, PhilH930 said:

Needs to improve. Also needs some service. Anything. Has nothing - no one can either release, time or control a pass into our forwards. 

He doesn't bust a gut to get into space. That's his huge issue. Another wejrd thing about him is he has the strength but can't outmuscle strong defenders, has speed but doesn't sprint like he should, has height but always mistime his jumps. 

He can't expect ball to feet when teams defend deep against us. 

His desire to score goals isn't as much as Drogba or Costa. He expects the perfect ball every time as if he's playing with Xavi, Iniest and Messi.

I want him to succeed but he's frustrating to watch

It is the same bullsh*t that was holding back Timo.

It is really simply, we need to play the ball early. Today Kante (again), Azpi (again) and Chillwell guilty of not taking options to pass forward quickly. Kante in particular guilty of holding on too long. Lukaku could even be seen more than once telling players to pass it early.

We have a mental block that stops us being able to play forward quickly, instead loving the slowly slowly touch it inside, knock it back route.

6 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

It is the same bullsh*t that was holding back Timo.

It is really simply, we need to play the ball early. Today Kante (again), Azpi (again) and Chillwell guilty of not taking options to pass forward quickly. Kante in particular guilty of holding on too long. Lukaku could even be seen more than once telling players to pass it early.

We have a mental block that stops us being able to play forward quickly, instead loving the slowly slowly touch it inside, knock it back route.

I agree. The team needs to play quicker passes to him too. 

2 minutes ago, Deino said:

I agree. The team needs to play quicker passes to him too. 

I can see why they hesitate though. Lukaku may point and complain when the pass doesn't come earlier, but at the same time, he doesn't really look like he is ready to receive the ball. There is also the issue with his first touch, something that has always been poor. After training with him for so long now, maybe those flaws in his game are playing on the players minds.

We can certainly do more when it comes to creating chances, but I feel that it's Lukaku himself that is the biggest issue. 

5th game goal drought I think. 

Lukaku and our attack in general is turning into a real conundrum.

I think Lukaku is the best attacker we have by quite a distance. He was also immense to start the season here but it's obviously somewhat fallen apart lately.

It does not at all help that he's surrounded by attackers who's seemingly doesn't have a creative bone in them. Not only that, they all struggle to see the most obvious passes to put him through or into good positions. No doubt anyone would struggle under those circumstances so first priority needs to be to get a tune out of Mount, Havertz, Werner or any of the other attackers. They've all been piss poor to start the season.

 

5 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I can see why they hesitate though. Lukaku may point and complain when the pass doesn't come earlier, but at the same time, he doesn't really look like he is ready to receive the ball. There is also the issue with his first touch, something that has always been poor. After training with him for so long now, maybe those flaws in his game are playing on the players minds.

We can certainly do more when it comes to creating chances, but I feel that it's Lukaku himself that is the biggest issue. 

Yes. It's both. Our passes aren't quick enough but Lukaku himself doesn't make it any easier. 

We don't have a Cesc in midfield that can ping the perfect pass anymore so it is what it is. 

That was his worst performance for us last night. Wasn't up to the pace of the game and didn't look to have a good connection with his team mates. 

It's still early days though and he showed in his first few games what he was capable of. 

The only thing i commended him on in the match thread was his defensive heading, he was the best defender for those long throws and corners, as soon as he went off we struggled to clear the box.

14 hours ago, Sindre said:

Lukaku and our attack in general is turning into a real conundrum.

I think Lukaku is the best attacker we have by quite a distance. He was also immense to start the season here but it's obviously somewhat fallen apart lately.

It does not at all help that he's surrounded by attackers who's seemingly doesn't have a creative bone in them. Not only that, they all struggle to see the most obvious passes to put him through or into good positions. No doubt anyone would struggle under those circumstances so first priority needs to be to get a tune out of Mount, Havertz, Werner or any of the other attackers. They've all been piss poor to start the season.

The players behind him were creating chances at will last season, and while it was certainly frustrating seeing them squandering lots of them having a system that created numerous chances was the hard part. History suggests we would have reverted to a mean at some point.

The game at the top has moved on from the vocal point type of striker, we've gone from hoping can take one of numerous chances to hoping we can take one of a few and our shape has got a lot worse off the ball with Rom in the side, there's only so long even a keeper as good as Mendy can keep having us conceding way less than we should be doing (we're currently overperforming XGA by 6, that simply isn't sustainable).

I'm not buying the he's getting zero service theory. Yesterday there was this perfect fast counter, Werner crossed the ball and Lukaku found himself offside, that's not what you expect from a lethal striker. There were crosses into the box which he could not get touch on, and when we were under pressure he's not there to hold the ball up. He missed a sitter against Southmapton, some good chances against Juventus. He's meant to be the proven goal scorer, should have at least scored 1 or 2 in the last 3 games. Of course we could have created more clear cut chances, but he needs to do better, simple as that.

9 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

I'm not buying the he's getting zero service theory. Yesterday there was this perfect fast counter, Werner crossed the ball and Lukaku found himself offside, that's not what you expect from a lethal striker. There were crosses into the box which he could not get touch on, and when we were under pressure he's not there to hold the ball up. He missed a sitter against Southmapton, some good chances against Juventus. He's meant to be the proven goal scorer, should have at least scored 1 or 2 in the last 3 games. Of course we could have created more clear cut chances, but he needs to do better, simple as that.

Yes, his biggest failure yesterday was he had all that time to stay onside and he failed miserably at it.

Add that to sitters missed yesterday (yes offside but still missed when he did not know he was offside) against Saints and one he missed the target at Juve when he should have got us a key point. His saving grace is his help as set plays and that Havertz was more helpful to them than us yesterday.

On 16/10/2021 at 20:08, nonotnowjim said:

It is the same bullsh*t that was holding back Timo.

It is really simply, we need to play the ball early. Today Kante (again), Azpi (again) and Chillwell guilty of not taking options to pass forward quickly. Kante in particular guilty of holding on too long. Lukaku could even be seen more than once telling players to pass it early.

We have a mental block that stops us being able to play forward quickly, instead loving the slowly slowly touch it inside, knock it back route.

Couldn't disagree more Jim.

And there was on key example. 2nd half Kante wins the ball in midfield and plays a peach of a pass for Werner to run on to just inside the edge of the Brentford box. Werner completely and utterly doesn't read it. He stays behind the defender. He doesn't move early and across him. Why? Because he is not a natural striker. He doesn't read those situations. He doesn't move for them like a real striker would. It was breathtakingly bad.

Technically Werner is a very, very poor footballer.

3 minutes ago, just said:

Technically Werner is a very, very poor footballer.

I know your point is on Werner Just, given this is the Lukaku thread though this line fits perfectly for him as well.

10 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

That was his worst performance for us last night. Wasn't up to the pace of the game and didn't look to have a good connection with his team mates. 

It's still early days though and he showed in his first few games what he was capable of. 

Could he still be suffering from his ‘muscle fatigue’ but because he’s our only (proper) striker TT is just playing him with an injury? Not trying to make excuses for him just something to consider. 

20 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Could he still be suffering from his ‘muscle fatigue’ but because he’s our only (proper) striker TT is just playing him with an injury? Not trying to make excuses for him just something to consider. 

Think we could do with Broja back.

10 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Think we could do with Broja back.

He’s t(s)ainted now - dead to me…

2 hours ago, Munkworth said:

He’s t(s)ainted now - dead to me…

Scores on his debut to beat Leeds. 👍 should’ve kept him and not signed that donkey lukaku. 

On 16/10/2021 at 13:01, Deino said:

He doesn't bust a gut to get into space. That's his huge issue. Another wejrd thing about him is he has the strength but can't outmuscle strong defenders, has speed but doesn't sprint like he should, has height but always mistime his jumps. 

He can't expect ball to feet when teams defend deep against us. 

All good points here. With the way we are playing he just seems to me to be the wrong striker for us. He would do very well for City but a lot more work is expected from our forwards and he just does not offer that

I don't know if it's just me but he looks very lazy. Doesn't press much  (I saw stats saying he is the second worst after Ronaldo), and when the ball doesn't get to him as he expects, he just stands there most times in an offside position. He is not Ronaldo or Messi level  so should be willing to help the team more when out of possession. He seems useless whenever he doesn't score and that will become a big problem in the big games in which he isn't very prolific.

10 hours ago, just said:

Couldn't disagree more Jim.

And there was on key example. 2nd half Kante wins the ball in midfield and plays a peach of a pass for Werner to run on to just inside the edge of the Brentford box. Werner completely and utterly doesn't read it. He stays behind the defender. He doesn't move early and across him. Why? Because he is not a natural striker. He doesn't read those situations. He doesn't move for them like a real striker would. It was breathtakingly bad.

Technically Werner is a very, very poor footballer.

I remember this. That was absolutely shocking. One of the worst things I've seen. I don't think I've seen something like that before where it was so easy for a defender to get in front on the striker.

Chelsea = where good strikers are ruined. 
 

Seems to be happening again. Hopefully Tuchel can work on our attack to get him going again. 

14 hours ago, Munkworth said:

He’s t(s)ainted now - dead to me…

Your'e going to need some cognitive therapy because Broja will be in our team next season.

How the hell does he get supplied better chances to score at Inter Milan, opposed to here. Boggles my mind. Maybe it's the league, I don't know, but Serie A is supposed to be a toughest league to score in, so Lukaku should be banging them in here soon. 🤷🏻‍♂️