Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea

Ayoba

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There is no denying that the Lukaku we see now at Chelsea is a fitter, leaner and improved version of the one we sold. Given that United Lukaku even at his worst had almost 20 goals to his name, he will definitely make a difference for a far better Chelsea side.

However, his basic weaknesses of poor first touch, big game droughts and fragile mentality still remain. Unless he improves on them, he will always remain a tier below the top center forwards. And he will blame everyone and everything to avoid accepting that, just like he did with us here.
I this is quite pertinent with Lukaku, I feel sometimes he brings upon himself. All this talk of being one of the best strikers in the world etc, he puts too much pressure on himself and his fragile ego can't handle it.
 

cyberman

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Ronaldo is the worst presser in the league. Fair enough he is 36.

look who is third in that list.
 

duffer

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Ronaldo is the worst presser in the league. Fair enough he is 36.

look who is third in that list.
You've also got Salah, Vardy and Son in the bottom half of that.

None of them are being lazy, it's how they're told to play to get the most out of them.

Having Ronaldo, Lukaku or Salah chasing shit down like Kante would be a monumental waste of their energy.
 

Stacks

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You've also got Salah, Vardy and Son in the bottom half of that.

None of them are being lazy, it's how they're told to play to get the most out of them.

Having Ronaldo, Lukaku or Salah chasing shit down like Kante would be a monumental waste of their energy.
basically the top teams don't press
 

cyberman

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You've also got Salah, Vardy and Son in the bottom half of that.

None of them are being lazy, it's how they're told to play to get the most out of them.

Having Ronaldo, Lukaku or Salah chasing shit down like Kante would be a monumental waste of their energy.
But Vardy used to chase everything down before he got older and the other two are wide forwards? Ronaldo isn’t even tactical since we have Cavani who presses like a mad man from the front. The number 9s do generally press at higher rate than wide forwards.
I’m not even having a go at Lukaku but I was told how much fitter he was and how he got his diet sorted and it turns out he doesn’t even do much without the ball. Plus it’s not as if you’re a counter attacking side with your back 3 so he doesn’t even run that much with the ball with how methodical you are when you attack.
It’s also striking how the every top team must press from the top tactical assessments looks to be bullshit
 

duffer

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But Vardy used to chase everything down before he got older and the other two are wide forwards? Ronaldo isn’t even tactical since we have Cavani who presses like a mad man from the front. The number 9s do generally press at snigger rate than wide forwards.
I’m not even having a go at Lukaku but I was told how much fitter he was and how he got his diet sorted and it turns out he doesn’t even do much without the ball. Plus it’s not as if you’re a counter attacking side with your back 3 so he doesn’t even run that much with the ball with how methodical you are when you attack.
It’s also striking how the every top team must press from the top tactical assessments looks to be bullshit

A Tweet about Ronaldo being the "worst" presser in the league and you post it in the Lukaku thread! Of course not! :lol:
 

DWelbz19

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basically the top teams don't press
Not necessarily. The top strikers tend not to, but the support cast does… Apart from ours. It’s no wonder we’re so lopsided with both Ronaldo, Greenwood AND Sancho being such passive pressers.
I had a brief look at this a month or so ago:
Decided to check and compare with our rivals instead of doing work for 10 mins:

City (Percentile only):
Foden - 60
De Bruyne - 59
Jesus - 55
Bernardo - 50
Torres - 40
Mahrez - 28
Grealish - 21
Sterling - 6

Liverpool:
Jota - 94
Firmino - 88
Salah - 51
Mane - 40

Chelsea:
Mount - 91
Ziyech - 70
Pulisic - 71
Havertz - 43
Werner - 29
Lukaku - 6

TLDR: we got some right lazy bastards in attack.
All our wide players should improve their work rate, at least the ones who will be staying at club.

This table shows how poor our young players are when it comes to work rate.

PositionPressuresPercentile
JamesWinger
21.59​
94​
BrunoAttacking mid
21.46​
93​
LingardWinger
21.14​
90​
CavaniForward
15.44​
64​
GreenwoodWinger
12.78​
22​
MartialForward
10.39​
12​
RashfordWinger
11.06​
10​
SanchoWinger
10.76​
8​
RonaldoForward
6.69​
1​
 

cyberman

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A Tweet about Ronaldo being the "worst" presser in the league and you post it in the Lukaku thread! Of course not! :lol:
Well we knew Ronaldo was a box player and couldn’t do much outside it when we bought him.
Lukaku is a genuine shock to me. Cavani presses, Jota and Firminho are high up as well as Jesus.
If it is tactical I wonder what Tuchel sees that the other top clubs with their 9s don’t.
 

Plant0x84

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You've also got Salah, Vardy and Son in the bottom half of that.

None of them are being lazy, it's how they're told to play to get the most out of them.

Having Ronaldo, Lukaku or Salah chasing shit down like Kante would be a monumental waste of their energy.
You’ll get no where with logic and common sense like that here son. We need more hyperbole, knee jerking and wild exaggeration! Ronaldo is trash, Lukaku worst in the league! Stats prove everything!

p.s - I enjoyed your post and concur.
 

Bobski

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Not necessarily. The top strikers tend not to, but the support cast does… Apart from ours. It’s no wonder we’re so lopsided with both Ronaldo, Greenwood AND Sancho being such passive pressers.
I had a brief look at this a month or so ago:
Those stats are brutal, and pretty much make a front 3 of Sancho, Greenwood and Ronaldo unusable. Disgraceful from the younger ones.
 

harms

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You've also got Salah, Vardy and Son in the bottom half of that.

None of them are being lazy, it's how they're told to play to get the most out of them.

Having Ronaldo, Lukaku or Salah chasing shit down like Kante would be a monumental waste of their energy.
Bottom half and yet twice as much as Lukaku. That stat is pretty damning regardless of how you look at this.

P.S. and yeah, we’re not ignoring Cristiano being a complete passenger.
 

Adisa

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He's a goalscorer but how three clubs have spent £75m, £70m and £98m on him is a mystery.
 

Cnaiür urs Skiötha

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I was really surprised that Tuchel went for him as getting him in only to finish off the chances seems to be a bit shortsighted for a manager who I believe is always looking at the bigger picture.
Guardiola, Klopp, Nagelsmann etc. would not be interested as he is just not a good footballer and often hinders the flow of the game. Even Ole recognized it.

If I had to choose between Werner and him it would be Werner any day of the week for me, just hoping he starts finding the back of the net on a more regular basis.
 

Sky1981

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Ronaldo is the worst presser in the league. Fair enough he is 36.

look who is third in that list.
That's moot to be fair, some players are given free reign not to press, not every team presses and being the Main Striker they could have been told to preserve that energy for the right time. Different team different approach is all.
 

Sky1981

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I was really surprised that Tuchel went for him as getting him in only to finish off the chances seems to be a bit shortsighted for a manager who I believe is always looking at the bigger picture.
Guardiola, Klopp, Nagelsmann etc. would not be interested as he is just not a good footballer and often hinders the flow of the game. Even Ole recognized it.

If I had to choose between Werner and him it would be Werner any day of the week for me, just hoping he starts finding the back of the net on a more regular basis.
There is no bigger picture than "score 1 more than your opponent"

Purist sexist is only for armchair fans, real world manager wins first and bothers about good football second. Off course most of the times good footballs are in tandem with winning, but whatever or whoever score goals he's the right man for the job.

What good is a maradonna if he can't score?
 

BridgeBanter

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Yeah it’s amazing how much Conte improved his heading, touch and link up play isn’t it.

And here we were thinking it was just the level of competition.

Stupid us.
Such a dumb statement. So what if he goes on a run of 10 straight games with a goal? Does that mean you’re the dumb one?

The best thing is to just evaluate his record and performances at the end of the season.
 

EtH

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Such a dumb statement. So what if he goes on a run of 10 straight games with a goal? Does that mean you’re the dumb one?

The best thing is to just evaluate his record and performances at the end of the season.
Won’t happen but that’s beside the point really. Just pointing out how ridiculous many posts like the one below were shortly after his signing…

He has improved play with his back to goal and can now occupy the CB’s faced up or on the half turn. He’s a great header of the ball and his touch has improved tremendously to the point where he can hold up the ball when played into him. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, he has tremendous goal poacher instincts.

So who are these #9’s in the league better than Lukaku?
He’s the same player he was. A bit fitter but the same shite technique and mentality.
 

RedDevil@84

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“The way I’m built – I’m quite big – everybody thinks I’m a sort of target man; just holding up the ball and being a goal poacher,”

“But I’ve never played that way and I hate it.

“My biggest strength is that I’m dangerous when I’m facing towards the goal because that’s when I rarely make wrong choices.
 

Strelok

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How the feck he could miss this, he's in the middle of the goal and it's 7 metres wise :lol:

09:14
 

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“The way I’m built – I’m quite big – everybody thinks I’m a sort of target man; just holding up the ball and being a goal poacher,”

“But I’ve never played that way and I hate it.

“My biggest strength is that I’m dangerous when I’m facing towards the goal because that’s when I rarely make wrong choices.
This just doesn't make any sense. If he is not a target man, then in the modern game he needs to press the opposition when they're in possession as otherwise he is a complete passenger when his team are out of possession.....oh, wait.
 

Cloud7

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Yeah it’s amazing how much Conte improved his heading, touch and link up play isn’t it.

And here we were thinking it was just the level of competition.

Stupid us.
There was never a point where I was convinced he was better than he was when he left us. When you looked at the goals he scored, the chances he missed, and his overall play, he was exactly the same at Inter as he was with us. The difference was the level of competition, and that Conte put together a coherent team all around that won the league. It wasn't because Lukaku became a different player.
 

Robbie Boy

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Remember the ridiculous fawning when Chelsea re-signed him. Yes, the same player that was lambasted regularly when he was here.

The truth is, he's at least a level or so below being a top number 9. He has far too many deficiencies to his game, has consistency issues and a horrible mentality.
 

duffer

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Remember the ridiculous fawning when Chelsea re-signed him.
Where was the ridiculous fawning? I've just read the first few pages and it's mostly people saying he'll score against minnows and go missing in big games.

A few people thought it would be a good signing for Chelsea but I can't see any "ridiculous fawning". Are you talking about on Twitter?
 

EtH

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Where was the ridiculous fawning? I've just read the first few pages and it's mostly people saying he'll score against minnows and go missing in big games.

A few people thought it would be a good signing for Chelsea but I can't see any "ridiculous fawning". Are you talking about on Twitter?
Were quite a few claiming Conte had him coached up to world class. Saying he was a completely different player to the one we saw at United and that the poor touches, headers and general inconsistency would be a thing of the past.
 

tomaldinho1

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Where was the ridiculous fawning? I've just read the first few pages and it's mostly people saying he'll score against minnows and go missing in big games.

A few people thought it would be a good signing for Chelsea but I can't see any "ridiculous fawning". Are you talking about on Twitter?
You're right. People said exactly this and that's literally exactly what he's done so far. He's still got his trampoline boots on but he's still a threat anywhere in the box.

He is a good signing for Chelsea, he's a different type of striker to what you have and can be really effective and score goals in most situations. If Tuchel can manage him and drop him when necessary, it just makes Chelsea harder to predict and stronger. He's not my cup of tea as a CF but he's on for ~20 PL goals this season at his current rate and you'd assume he'll have more joy in their fixtures coming up, Brentford, Norwich, Soton, Newcastle is a lovely little run.
 

duffer

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Were quite a few claiming Conte had him coached up to world class. Saying he was a completely different player to the one we saw at United and that the poor touches, headers and general inconsistency would be a thing of the past.
I don't think there was "quite a few" saying that. Maybe in another thread I guess.
 

duffer

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Robbie Boy

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Where was the ridiculous fawning? I've just read the first few pages and it's mostly people saying he'll score against minnows and go missing in big games.

A few people thought it would be a good signing for Chelsea but I can't see any "ridiculous fawning". Are you talking about on Twitter?
General media making out this was the missing piece etc. Sky jizzing themselves the first Chelsea game of the season they showed, saying he was going to be fantastic. I had some convos with posters on here saying signing Lukaku put you lot ahead of us, and the likes.
 

Idxomer

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He would do well to match his goals in his 1st season with United.