Romelu Lukaku back to Chelsea - and gone again!

[Gol15]

2 minutes ago, Deino said:

Last season in the CL Inter faced Mochengladbach, Shakhtar and a weak RM side and Inter still finished bottom of the group. 

Scoring goals in other leagues just doesn't translate well on the PL. We had this with Werner, Havertz and Ziyech already. The PL is a different beast every year, I'd say it's the fastest evolving league in the world. 

The way Lukaku is as a player just doesn't work in this year's PL. All our false 9/strikers are functional at the very least. Lukaku came on when we were winning and proceeds to do nothing but congests the middle.

Lukaku doesn't even open spaces for others to score, that's the biggest problem. I'd bet that even Salah won't score much if he plays in the same team as Lukaku

I think you're trying to downplay the fact that Lukaku has been among the top 5 strikers in Europe in the most recent years, you don't choose who you're playing against it's not like Inter was amazing before Lukaku joined them either.

Once Tuchel starts to actually coach our attack and give real instructions on what his players should do at certain moments, then we'll see an improvement but this poor form of our attack is definitely not solely because of Lukaku.

Here we have some of the best young talents in the world, Havertz, Mount, CHO, Pulisic and 1 of the best strikers around Lukaku and yet Tuchel's whole tactic falls flat as soon as Chilwell is injured. That is really mindblowing that you insist on a huge signing but then fully rely upon the full-backs to win you games, maybe he wanted to compensate for what he doesn't want to do in training with a big transfer so that a good player just manages to get the job done by his own or something but it's clearly not working.

It's December and Tuchel still doesn't have a striker that scored 5 goals in all competitions? Embarrassing.

[abramovich]

Better question is, if Lukaku is so great and we simply don't know how to utilize his talent, ask yourselves this question: would Pep or Klopp want him at City or Pool? We know they've already had him and don't rate him at United. I don't see the likes of Bayern or Real to be even remotely interested. Apart from Serie A which is a shadow of its former self, no top club in Europe would want him, and we know why.

I know he will score goals this season. Won't change my opinion of him.

[Deino]

17 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

I think you're trying to downplay the fact that Lukaku has been among the top 5 strikers in Europe in the most recent years, you don't choose who you're playing against it's not like Inter was amazing before Lukaku joined them either.

Once Tuchel starts to actually coach our attack and give real instructions on what his players should do at certain moments, then we'll see an improvement but this poor form of our attack is definitely not solely because of Lukaku.

Here we have some of the best young talents in the world, Havertz, Mount, CHO, Pulisic and 1 of the best strikers around Lukaku and yet Tuchel's whole tactic falls flat as soon as Chilwell is injured. That is really mindblowing that you insist on a huge signing but then fully rely upon the full-backs to win you games, maybe he wanted to compensate for what he doesn't want to do in training with a big transfer so that a good player just manages to get the job done by his own or something but it's clearly not working.

It's December and Tuchel still doesn't have a striker that scored 5 goals in all competitions? Embarrassing.

This season Lukaku has poor numbers and even poorer all around stats. Him being in the Top 5 strikers is just based on goals against poor teams when he was on an average team. Lukaku is a midtable striker in the PL, always has been. 

Blaming Tuchel when we create chances galore for strikers not-named Lukaku only for them missing again and again is not something you can coach. You want Tuchel to tell them how to kick a ball into the net or something at this level? 

Edited December 4, 2021 by Deino

[Scott Harris]

2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

I think we're static regardless of him, none of our strikers are scoring goals. We had a good run with the back 3 tactic but it's time we moved on.

So you think changing to a different system will suddenly have our attacking players scoring? why? they get plenty of chances to score in the current system, they just don't take them, why does that suddenly change if we switch to something like 4-5-1 or 4-3-3? 

Lampard didn't like to play 3 at the back, but players were still missing tons of chances under him. Also, are you forgetting that some of our players weaknesses will get badly exposed if you take them out of a 3 at the back system? Like Rudiger, you will not find a player more suited to a 3 at the back system, put him into a back 4 and he's the same Rudiger that played under Sarri and Lampard, unreliable, erratic, positioning all over the place. Christensen, how much has he really improved? can he play in a back 4 and hold his own? if he needs that partner next to him to hide his lack of strength, then no, it's still a problem for him. Alonso.......yeah, no thanks, I don't want him anywhere near a back 4. That would mean an aging Azpilicueta until Chilwell returns.

Speaking of Chilwell, would he and James be as effective for us playing as full backs? They wouldn't be able to play such an attacking role because they would need to cover for the likes of Jorginho, another player who is far more exposed in a back 4 system. Kante is also somebody that has never looks anywhere near as good for us when we move away from the back 3.

 

The only way we move away from the 3 at the back formation is when the players I mentioned above are either no longer playing for us, or are no longer regular starters.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Scott Harris

[Luca Vialli]

24 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Once Tuchel starts to actually coach our attack and give real instructions on what his players should do at certain moments, then we'll see an improvement but this poor form of our attack is definitely not solely because of Lukaku.

Is there a date set aside for when this is going to start? He seems to be leaving it a little late....

[Argo]

When Rom isn't playing we usually create chances at will. Seems a while ago now but we're only just recently off two of our best performances in years. 

I mean it can't all be Chilwell surely?

[Deino]

7 minutes ago, Argo said:

When Rom isn't playing we usually create chances at will. Seems a while ago now but we're only just recently off two of our best performances in years. 

I mean it can't all be Chilwell surely?

No proper athletic ball carrier in midfield either. Our left side is softer and teams keep picking at it so we just get sucked into defending the left that holes open up. If Kova or Kante was around, we could at least plug it properly without having everyone focusing on the left. 

[Bob stark]

27 minutes ago, abramovich said:

Better question is, if Lukaku is so great and we simply don't know how to utilize his talent, ask yourselves this question: would Pep or Klopp want him at City or Pool? We know they've already had him and don't rate him at United. I don't see the likes of Bayern or Real to be even remotely interested. Apart from Serie A which is a shadow of its former self, no top club in Europe would want him, and we know why.

I know he will score goals this season. Won't change my opinion of him.

Klopp? 100%

Pep not so much 

[Bob stark]

12 minutes ago, Argo said:

When Rom isn't playing we usually create chances at will. Seems a while ago now but we're only just recently off two of our best performances in years. 

I mean it can't all be Chilwell surely?

Completely agree, we battered West Ham in the 1st half. 

[Argo]

1 minute ago, Bob stark said:

Klopp? 100%

Pep not so much 

Who would he get in over at Liverpool.

Unless you mean Klopp would see him as a squad option but we know how he reacts when he's given that type of role.

[Argo]

Just now, Bob stark said:

Completely agree, we battered West Ham in the 1st half. 

I mean we weren't great but we were pressing well, created some openings and bar that one mistake the back door was shut. 

Second half we create absolutely nothing bar that Mount half chance, the pressing is non existent which trickled into looking like we may concede every time the ball was turned over.

Now if this was "just one game" I'd give the benefit of the doubt it was a coincidence but there's numerous sample size out there that now clearly shows we're better off as a team unit without Lukaku.

[Bob stark]

2 minutes ago, Argo said:

Who would he get in over at Liverpool.

Unless you mean Klopp would see him as a squad option but we know how he reacts when he's given that type of role.

Right now? Nobody because Liverpool has enough attacker. If they didn't sign Jota,Klopp will take Lukaku in a heart beat. 

[abramovich]

6 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Right now? Nobody because Liverpool has enough attacker. If they didn't sign Jota,Klopp will take Lukaku in a heart beat. 

You've got to be kidding. If Lukaku could play Klopp style football, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[Bob stark]

Just now, abramovich said:

You've got to be kidding. If Lukaku could play Klopp style football, we wouldn't be having this discussion

You clearly don't understand how klopp want to play 

[axman2526]

Awful as ever. Another large waste of money in our front line ranks and the stone that will drag TT down.

[abramovich]

12 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

You clearly don't understand how klopp want to play 

I do know Klopp doesn't want an unmovable object for a striker. He doesn't want someone with lazy attitude, erratic passing, non-existant dribbling and no desire to press the opposition. Klopp has work ethic as a number one requirement, his players never stop running, never stop working for the team. Not to mention that technical ability of the likes of Salah and Mane is on a different planet to Lukaku's.

Lukaku's problem is that he thinks he's a star and the team shoukld be built around him. All that nonsense about the team adapting to him really drives me mad. Why should we? We're not talking about a world class superstar here, he's just a very limited player who's good at one thing and not very good at many other things. He's the one who should try his hardest to adapt to the team, not the other way around.

[Drogba1]

I think the Serie A being a slower league meant his touch wasn't exposed as much, which is why he flourished there, similar to how Bakayoko plays a lot better in that league. He honestly doesn't look like he's improved much at all from his United days otherwise.

 

We should've just saved the money and went all out for Haaland next year (or even an old Lewandowski)

[Gol15]

55 minutes ago, Deino said:

This season Lukaku has poor numbers and even poorer all around stats. Him being in the Top 5 strikers is just based on goals against poor teams when he was on an average team. Lukaku is a midtable striker in the PL, always has been. 

Blaming Tuchel when we create chances galore for strikers not-named Lukaku only for them missing again and again is not something you can coach. You want Tuchel to tell them how to kick a ball into the net or something at this level? 

My opinion has been that if we ever find a striker that can score 20 goals in the league that we will once again be the champions, I think Lukaku should be capable of that, after all our squad is better than Inter. Score a goal against lower teams, all of them and win the vast majority of those games and your chances to be the PL winner increase massively, I think that is what we have been missing. After all if Lukaku has always been just a mid-table striker in the PL, Tuchel takes that hit as well and not Lukaku that got convinced otherwise.

Yes I do want Tuchel to practice more the attacking phase, it's the one thing that has been missing for a while. Just like they practice keeping possession in tight spaces they should practice scoring goals, the minimal that every opposition does is to practice to defend against the most obvious attacking sequences and it's embarrassing that we have spent so much money for the attack and yet none of our strikers is getting anything done. We already had a reputation of ruining strikers, what now, are we the graveyard of every attacking talent out there?

I blame the system, you feel free to believe that it's every single individual that just can't do it for whatever individual reasons they may have. But I know that our missed chances are not a normality for other top teams, I can still keep saying that as long as we don't have a striker capable of being a good scorer that we won't win the league so we must get that attack going and specially after spending so much money, after all the only thing you can say is that every decent striker stops shining after joining us, let's just pretend it's all a coincidence and that it has nothing to do with our club. 

I mean, it's easy if you can get for example a T.Silva that has already learned everything about the game, a player like that you don't need to tell anything. The rest you need to coach.

But don't get me wrong, I was amazed when Tuchel decided to focus all of his attention into getting the defense better, it's just that it has gone enough time already and our attack looks average at best, only echoes of good names being on paper.

[Scott Harris]

The crazy thing is that I am even starting to doubt if he will score many goals for us. I never wanted him in the first place because I thought he would make us a worse team overall, but even I expected him to comfortably end up as our top goalscorer. Nearly half way into the season and he still only has 4 goals. I know he's been injured, but even before the injury he was starting to struggle. He just looks sh*t all over right now. He doesn't get any chances, his link up play is terrible, he looks clumsy, he doesn't look anywhere close to a player that is going to make the difference for us. 

Lukaku is not an elite striker or footballer. At this moment, he doesn't look any better than he did when he was playing for West Brom, if anything, he looks worse.

[axman2526]

Panic buys never work. Return to sender please.

[Argo]

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

You clearly don't understand how klopp want to play 

Who does he displace? (He doesn't accept rotation roles so he won't go there unless Klopp guarentees him a starting role).

[General]

Give him the full 90 vs Zenit, he’s been out w ankle problem , had very few minutes as part of an obvious reintegration policy by TT, 

it’s unfair imo to be dropped in mid match why not 60 ? His introduction did have the reverse effect and we choked as they grew bolder. 
but he has to get back sharp and match fitter think he’s bit of a scapegoat today but he does need to get goals very soon or it’s another CFC 🎄🦃

[Argo]

The most frightening thing about the Lukaku situation is he's been playing first team football since he was 16, players that start that early are usually physically wrecked by the time they hit 30. If they offer some high level technical quality they can still have a decent impact past their prime (ala Eto'o for us) but Rom relies solely in his athletic qualities to be effective at this level. This could literally turn into the Torres nightmare part two.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Argo

[axman2526]

1 minute ago, Argo said:

The most frightening thing about the Lukaku situation is he's been playing first team football since he was 16, players that start that early are usually physically wrecked by the time they hit 30. If they offer some high level technical quality they can still have a decent impact past their prime (ala Eto'o for us) but Rom relies solely in his athletic qualities to be effective at this level. This could literally turn into the Torres nightmare part two.

It will. We agreed we did not want him, I pushed for Broja to stay and push on and we would have been  better with him by far imo.

Between festive Chelsea and Lukaku our season is back on cup hopes imo.

[RMH]

Can we call back Broja? He looks more mobile and is kind of delivering the goods.