Lukaku's toe injury problem

Not exactly finding the net, is he?

Personally IÂ’d prefer him to be 100% fit for the big Â’un on 27 September.

He could have played the first few games then got a rest when we introduced our new centre-forward. IÂ’m happy we signed him, but if EtoÂ’o plays and performs like he did on his debut, then Lukaku could be getting a good rest anyway, unless Martinez decides to change his system.

3-5-2, what do people think about this? They say it canÂ’t work in The EPL, even though teams have won the worldÂ’s biggest trophy by playing this way.

Also there has been no news on Kone. HeÂ’s been out for almost a year now... not sure how much we can expect from him this season.

In short, we still look pretty light in the striking department though at least NaismithÂ’s form has been excellent.

I see LukakuÂ’s injury as an opportunity to give EtoÂ’o game time and get his fitness up to speed. It will also give him and Naismith time to develop an understanding. LukakuÂ’s injury isnÂ’t the disaster we would have thought it to be last season.

Where is Kone? Does anyone know?

The pressing persistent worry is not whether we can actually score a goal or two at West Brom, or any other match for that matter, but whether we can keep the goals out. We could easily score twice at the Hawthorns but still draw or lose.

ItÂ’s a cert that, when we do eventually keep a clean sheet, it will be a 0-0 draw. To be honest, if someone offered me a 0-0 draw at Anfield now, I would simply snatch their entire arm off. The way we defend we havenÂ’t a cat in hellÂ’s chance at Anfield, 100% fit Lukaku or not.

Of course this could just be a question of the Belgian doctors trying to get a foot in the door of the NHS!

If he has to miss West Brom to get fully fit then so be it. We need him fully fit with the fixture congestion. Real worry is if he is out for a while.

Thank goodness we got EtoÂ’o in who is hopefully training hard during the international break.

We’ll miss him though, I don’t think he is appreciated enough as the battering ram that he is – he definitely makes space for others and we don’t have other players like him.

I doubt weÂ’ll get 90 out of EtoÂ’o and heÂ’s a completely different sort of player.

EtoÂ’o to me looks fit enough to play at least 60 mins in games, he looks more naturally fit than Rom and heÂ’s got through some minutes in games this season so IÂ’m sure EtoÂ’o would be okay starting. If weÂ’re without Lukaku and go with EtoÂ’o up top, we just change it after an hour and put Naismith up front and put an extra midfielder in deep or bring someone like Ossie on to play off the front man?!

But the encouraging thing is, Kone as played 2 behind closed doors games now, the most recent being yesterday, and he came through fine and actually got a goal yesterday, so who knows, he may be closer to a return than expected, then again, Martinez did say mid September to end of month him and Oviedo (who also played that game) would be back and fit!

"The way we defend we havenÂ’t a cat in hellÂ’s chance at Anfield, 100% fit Lukaku or not".

Would you be happier if we just forfeit the game now?

As long as he Â’sticksÂ’ a couple in the back of the net, I donÂ’t think any of us will make any Â’bones about itÂ’.

A bit unfortunate over Rom, but like some posters have said, it would better he gets fully fit and ready for the Bigger games ahead.

I donÂ’t mean to disrespect West Brom, or any other team for that matter, there are no easy games in the Prem, and it is often when you under-estimate these sides that they more often or not, come back to haunt you.

In my opinion, we should just leave Lukaku out for the West Brom match. He needs to get his toe sorted before further damage is done.

I agree that we donÂ’t appreciate Lukaku enough, I rate him as a player, heÂ’s talented although IÂ’d have to disagree slightly.

I donÂ’t feel he uses his "battering ram" strength anything like he should. He doesnÂ’t get his body between man and ball and protect it enough for me yet, although he obviously has time and a fine tutor to improve this.

I do remember this being one of the main criticisms of Victor Anichebe during his time here, all the body strength of a rhino but didnÂ’t have the stomach for it on a consistent basis.

Rom is a better player, goalscorer than Anichebe ever will be but I just hope he does (and I think he will) do it more consistently and utilise his strengths to reach his full potential.

The lad (Rom) has got a sore fucking toe! Okay, so fix it, and as someone earlier rightly pointed out – Why fly to Belgium? It’s almost like Bob is getting his excuses in early! Ironic that he’s being defensive now....

HeÂ’s carrying an injury FFS! have any of you tried to play any type of sport nursing an injury, especially foot or feet? The fact that weÂ’re not playing WBA til next week suggests more that a sore toe.

If Rom isnÂ’t 100% then no point in playing him and risking him being out for a long time. Players get injured, luckily sounds like itÂ’s not serious. EtoÂ’o, Mirallas and Naismith should be enough to see off West Brom.

Enjoy the week off.

Might be the way to go next week if, God forbid, we need it. The amount of important games coming up is kooky.

It was almost like he was guaranteed 30-45 mins a game, and so Long knackered himself out, wore out the defenders, then they unleashed Rom. TaggartÂ’s last game was at WBA, and he came on when they were 0-2 down at HT, hit a hatrick in a 5-5 draw.

For whatever reason, last season and this, Rom doesnÂ’t look to have 90 mins in him at this stage.

ItÂ’s a total mystery with Kone. IÂ’d seriously doubt weÂ’ll see him before November. On another note was there any comeback date given for Ross? I donÂ’t think so. Is this another big secret?

If Mirallas and Naismith can continue their form from the last game it wont be too much of a concern if Lukaku has to sit out 2-3 games, especially with EtoÂ’o there or thereabouts.

But, having said that, if he has been playing with an injury, thatÂ’s a sad indictment on the manager because, in the 3 games so far, heÂ’s done nothing apart from create a goal for Naismith and crash a lovely header against the bar against Chelsea. HeÂ’s contributed nothing at all. And if IÂ’m honest he wonÂ’t be missed.

Read that three times now – wish I hadn’t... but I’m still trying to get my head around it. What is about football that makes people say the strangest things?

3 games does not make a season and I am willing to give him time.

In addition to creating the goal for Naismith against Arsenal and hitting the crossbar against Chelsea, it was also his floated pass to the left that led to the second goal against Leicester City.

And if you watch the second goal against Chelsea, itÂ’s LukakuÂ’s presence that drags the defenders away to create the space for NaismithÂ’s excellent run for McGeady.

And, as others have said, the poor blokeÂ’s been playing through injury and he has a great scoring record. Can we just give him some time?

Mick, itÂ’s not good heÂ’s injured and I donÂ’t think anyone thinks that.

Some of us feel the way heÂ’s playing at the moment, he just wonÂ’t be missed now heÂ’s injured.

Keeping Jelavic and saving some money doesnÂ’t look like a bad option at this point.

Lukaku will improve (no doubts) but I hope itÂ’s not too late to help us.

It wasnÂ’t a game I wanted to watch again, but I wanted to get a closer view of our players. Our CBs werenÂ’t all that bad, it was more of our wingers and forwards not tracking back and helping out. Which was a gamble by Martinez, considering we were going on the offensive to get a something out of it.

I remember someone on these pages having a go at Tim Cahill a few years back, and said "Apart from all the goals he scores, what does he actually do for us?"

Takes me back to "All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us?"

IÂ’m far more concerned at this minute about the inability of Jagielka and Distin being able to defend for 90 minutes. I sincerely hope that RM and his staff have been working in recent days on finding a solution to this leaky defence.

I read somewhere, that during our first three games the opposition have had 14 shots on target, with 10 of those ending up in the back of the net.

I gave seen game where a team has had that amount of shots on target and not even scored. Funny old game as they say.

Even though I donÂ’t agree with the criticism of Lukaku. I can understand that people grumble about his first touch which can be woeful at times, but if he was better at this I honestly donÂ’t think heÂ’d be playing in an Everton shirt.

At the age of 21 hes got a better scoring record than Messi, Ronaldo and Aguero, and heÂ’s definitely got more to his game than just goal scoring. His sheer physicality means heÂ’s going to bully some defenders and itÂ’s been noted by Lyndon and a few others heÂ’s made goals for Naismith whoÂ’s been playing in the false number 9) by drawing defenders away from him. He also contributes with assists like the one for Naismith against Arsenal.

If aspects of his game (like first touch) were as good as some of the others weÂ’d be talking about a 60m striker, way out of our price range! HeÂ’s got time on his side at 21 and weÂ’ve not got the finished article yet

Although Robert Collins (#45) seems to be trying (my patience) with another bizarre face-palm statement:

Keeping Jelavic and saving some money doesnÂ’t look like a bad option at this point.

What?!? In case you hadnÂ’t noticed, keeping Jelavic and saving some money is NOT an option. HeÂ’s gone! He left months and months ago! Lukaku is here. WeÂ’ve paid for him, his name is on the squad list submitted to the Premier League...

My head hurts.

IÂ’m only going on what IÂ’ve seen and IÂ’ve seen the 3 games like I said if heÂ’s been playing with an injury it doesnÂ’t reflect well on the manager, who seemingly all but blew our transfer budget on him and has also been quoted as saying "IÂ’d have paid 𧴜 mil for him." Him and others must be seeing things IÂ’m not because I found that statement absolutely bizarre.

Like IÂ’ve said on other threads, heÂ’d do well to learn off Naismith whose work rate and finishing actually puts this big time Charlie to shame. But hey IÂ’ve always been under the impression itÂ’s a game of opinions, hey Micheal?

Maybe it will help if I spell it out: "Apart from contributing something, he contributed nothing. Nothing at all. Jack shit." ThatÂ’s what youÂ’re saying.

Just to be clear, youÂ’re going to stand by that as your "opinion", right? All I can suggest is that you read MattÂ’s post, about the Romans, then read yours... see if you canÂ’t sense a little irony in there somewhere.

We all know LukakuÂ’s been below par, and playing with an injury seems foolhardy at best... but they all do it to a certain extent. IÂ’m not arguing with that opinion. Pain-killing injections seem just ridiculous to me, and may have evidently made things worse in this case.

But I am questioning the sense of saying "Let’s ignore what he has contributed in these three games: look at everything else he hasn’t contributed that he coulda/shoulda — see: he’s contributed nothing (apart from what he has contributed, which I’m ignoring)."

Tell me, doesnÂ’t that sound just a little bit silly?

I feel your pain, I really do.

"Keeping Jelavic and saving some money doesnÂ’t look like a bad option at this point."

Well targeted! Quite right I neglected to put JelavicÂ’s status correctly in the past, in the above statement. My apologies if I confused you.

That said, we have seven goals from three games, thanks largely to Lukaku's contribution. I imagine there could have been a win if he was 100%. I can also imagine the frustration of fans if he didn't play any of our opening games after splashing 㿈M. Who'd be a manager?

IÂ’ll be honest here and say at times last season he looked an absolute beast. But at other times he looked as if he didnÂ’t give a flying one and how frustrating is that? We all go the game thinking, "Yeah, heÂ’s only up against him, heÂ’ll tear him to bits." But he never turned up and that happened quite a few times.

I know every top striker doesnÂ’t either, by the way. But Lukaku is quite fond of bulling himself up and thatÂ’s what annoys me. HeÂ’s definitely got it in his locker but it hasnÂ’t come out enough. Yet. Oh and IÂ’m glad for once I provoked a response. Even if it was negative. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, mate.

Lukaku's floated ball in Leicester game to set up goal was quality.

His assist for Naismith was well executed, albeit with a little help from the linesman.

He was desperately unlucky with the header against Chelsea, having out-jumped John Terry like he was a midget.

He took 4 Chelsea defenders out if the equation for Naismith's goal.

Not too bad for a player who is playing through the pain barrier, and who clearly is short of fitness and sharpness.

However, I'm fond of Jelavic, and I'm quite impartial to a bit of money, so I'm intrigued about this option that has been leaked in this thread...

What makes Lukaku a "big time charlie" in your opinion?

Is it because he mentioned once or twice that he was ambitious and wanted to play in champions league, before deciding that he could fulfil that ambition at Everton?

Whether we pay 㿞k or 㿞m for a striker, I want them to be ambitious, confident, selfish, arrogant... torture the opposition and constantly scream at his fellow players to give him the ball at every opportunity. Most importantly, bang the goals in against everyone and anyone, which he has done thus far in his short career.

That being said, Lukaku seems like a really good, intelligent lad. He could do with being a bit more ruthless and selfish like Diego Costa and Zlatan, and hopefully that will come with experience... he is still a kid ffs.

Sorry Andy Meighan but your opinion really doesn't sway me.

Matt Traynor (#36) hit upon an apposite point for me. The lad (yes, at 21 he is still developing physically) is being asked to do a very arduous task, i.e. lead our line for 90 minutes in most games. There is a limit to what anyone can give over the course of a match and he is pacing himself to do his job for the whole of the game (if he burns himself out in 30 minutes then he wrecks the manager's plans). That takes discipline and application and I've yet to see him do anything but accept his role and instructions unequivocally.

He is covering a decent amount of ground with unselfish runs and people are having a go at him for his lack of goals so far. If you can't appreciate what he is trying to do then you don't understand the ethos of a team sport. It would be massively different if he were spurning a load of chances or we weren't scoring goals as a team.

Why are some people so bothered about where he gets treated? Patient / doctor rapport and trust is undoubtedly a factor in working together towards a recovery. If he feels more comfortable with a professional in Belgium why deny him it?

Then we'll have games where the opposition is smart enough to see this, so he'll need to play a different role. It's still far better than Jelavic sitting up with defenders hanging off him, getting 4-5 offsides per game.

If I read Roberto's philosophy correctly, the aim is to build in-game understanding and intelligence so players know exactly when to change things without being told.

As regards big Rom, clearly he has undoubted striker skills in his locker and I as an Evertonian will be made up when he gets over his injury. For me, though, I find a lot of his good work is undone by some sloppy first touches and poor decision-making in not sussing out where the through ball is going.

On the other hand my lad and many more reckon Rom is going to be a legend... I really hope so!
COYToffffffffeeees!

Yes we have made a bad start defensively but we have a much better squad already now than with Moysey. We scored 5 goals against Chelsea and Arsenal ffs! I can't recall that happening for years.

Calm down, lads, and trust in our excellent manager.

Naismith is not at his best leading the line but his unselfish nature means we can still make 4-3-3 work.

Mirallas looked very good against Chelsea (without much of a pre-season) and will have more space to roam and become a goal threat.

The formation should also allow McGeady to focus on attacking his full back and he is beginning to show glimpses of quality. His goal vs Leicester and the 2nd goal v Chelsea stand out. Baines should get more space if Mirallas cuts in off the left. 3 centre mids should help us overcome an Achilles heel – being counter attacked. It should also provide defensive cover.

However, with no natural box-to-box midfielders, we could become quite defensive so it's not a formation I would deploy if Rom, Eto'o or Kone are fit.

I do think Martinez has to get real and take care of the injury once and for all, otherwise Lukaku will not be able to perform like we know he can.

Barkley had that toe injury last season and it affected him, so Martinez needs to get real.

Injecting him with painkillers is just a prolonging of that problem.

He was Man of the Match against Arsenal and we went to bits after he went off as we no longer had a threat up front to hold the ball up and push them back.

His movement and hold up play against Chelsea was brilliant and he has been playing with an injury. He is 21 and the majority of you are writing him off after 3 games. Fuck sake.

A 16-year-old Rooney is a kid
He is 21 FFS – not a kid anymore in footballing terms.

How many big, powerful, quality strikers in a similar mould to Lukaku were anywhere near the finished article by the age of 21? A few examples would be nice, as I can't think of any of the top of my head.

Strikers like these improve with experience, learning how to effectively use their assets, and improve their awareness on the pitch.

Drogba was still playing in the French 2nd tier when he was about 26. I do believe his the player that we would all like Lukaku to emulate.

People referring to him as 'a kid' is because he is relatively very young to be playing such a difficult role, with a lot of responsibility heaped on his young shoulders.

Considering he has played 3 games with this injury, his performances have not been as bad as some are making out. Naismith has certainly benefitted from Rom's presence as I think he (Naismith) has said himself.