Lukaku left on the bench as Belgium are held by Wales

Just sat on his arse all game... what a waste of money.

Martinez knows he has too "Big him up", hence his recent comment about how Rom will get going in the New Year.

RM is a bit of a politician... or at least an Alistair Campbell.

Personally I do not care if he is never used by Belgium — and that goes for Mirallas too.

I find it strange that you’ve decided not to include in your comparison that Lukaku is better in the air, stronger, better left foot, better right foot, better finisher and far superior goal rate than Origi.

Not sure I can ever recall an Everton fan make such a horribly biased comparison between a RS player and one of our own.

Hang your head mate.

The strengths you mention are obviously not sufficient to sway the Belgian manager’s mind. If Origi is keeping Lukaku on the bench while playing in a poor team in a weak league, you can safely predict that Lukaku will do plenty of bench-warming for his country when Origi joins Liverpool.

Mark Frere has already summed it up nicely... Wilmots is clueless.

Lukaku scores goals at a far greater rate. Origi looks decent, but he certainly doesn’t look like a lone striker.

He has pace and a few tricks, but I can see him flopping at the RS. He will be a frustrating players with the odd moment of brilliance.

Belgium should be beating Wales. They would have had a far better chance if Lukaku or Benteke had started. Both guys have fitness concerns this season.

All I care about is Everton, not the individuals earning milions of pounds from us.

If Lukaku can't trap a bag of cement and looks half-bothered in certain games then call it out – it doesn't mean you are being disloyal. For some reason, certain players attract stick and others are supposedly immune from it. I guess with Lukaku it is that everyone thinks he had so many more better offers elsewhere and he was doing us a favour by signing for us.

The reality? No-one came in for him – does anyone really think Juve had 㿈m to spend??? They bought Morata for 㾻m and are in debt.

The fact is Lukaku is way off what we expected him to be. That frustration is clearly shared by most fans – if anyone really expects that spending 㿈m on a player and then needing specialist coaching from staff to improve his control isn't concerning, then I don't know what is. For me, it's always going to be a weak area for him, he is 21 – not 12.

Mourinho is no idiot. He knows full well that a player needs to be able to look after the ball; a poacher isn't what he wants – he wants a player to be competent and contribute to the team and bring his attacking midfielders in.

RM has a job on his hands to find a way of getting the best out of Lukaku whilst minimising the areas where he really is generally poor. He can tell everyone all he wants about Lukaku being this and that next year – the reality is that defenders know how to play Lukaku. Take him out of the limelight, get Eto'o playing as the main man with Naismith – both intelligent with great movement.

Rom will come good, we hope, and he knows where the net is, but let's not kid ourselves, eh – he's got a shed load of improving to do and its not something that will magically happen.

I will never understand what made him pay that money for Lukaku. Yes, he will score goals, but only because he is strong and fast. He thinks slow, has a bad first touch, and is completely on a different level than Eto'o and the fast-thinking players around him.

In other words, he is a liability. Third choice for Belgium and will soon be third choice for us. He will never be good enough, and Peter, I have seen plenty of 12-year-olds with a better touch.

I'm not a fan of Hazard, I think he is vastly over rated (my opinion). But, if he was playing behind Benteke and Rom last night, they would have snotted Wales.

Not surprised he sat on the bench. (a) According to Martinez, he is two months away from peak fitness and (b), he is not suited to operating in the confined spaces of a packed defence.

Also, according to the lad himself, he hates playing with Hazard. This will not have helped his cause. On numerous occasions he has requested to be played up front with Fellaini who will provide the knock-downs.

Captain Vincent Kompany reckons it is far too early to judge our boy.

(From Popbitch)

>> Bump 'n' ride <<
Romelu Lukaku is a softie

This weekend sees Belgium host rivals Wales in a European Championship qualifier. Everton's Romelu Lukaku is probably grateful to be playing just a couple of train rides from home. According to a team-mate, he didn't enjoy the World Cup flight home from Brazil very much. When the plane hit turbulence Lukaku asked the flight attendant if she'd hold his hand.

Too many people are trying to convince themselves it does fit and it's just a trick of the mirror, knowing quite well they will only get half their money back when they sell it on ebay.

Reminds me...

http://talksport.com/magazine/virals/120831/michael-owen-sale-ebay-179950

Some just think that they will lose weight by magic and it will be the best purchase ever.

Especially as he has been consistent in his two full seasons in England.

It is well documented that he was/is carrying an injury and is still only one behind in the battle of the top scorers in our team. Still almost 1 in 2 and he is playing within pretty much the same team as last season so the fit was already there.

Remind me, Peter, how many times has Hallam Hope scored for us?

Bale doesn’t stop Wales from conceding though; Williams of Swansea is a class centre-back and the likes of Allen and Ramsey aren’t half bad.

Anyone get a look at the lad George Williams that we were linked with?

36 goals in 77 games eh, maybe it's a bit better than than the 28 in 75 that Rickie Lambert got for Southampton in the same two seasons...

I guess it's the mythical 15 goal barrier that he smashed that put him alongside the likes of Lambert, Grant Holt, Jay Rodriguez, Clint Dempsey, Peter Odemwingie and Yakubu in his Premier League swansong for Blackburn.

That's maybe why people get carried away with his goalscoring exploits and ignore the fact that he has the touch of an elephant.

Well yeh it is!!! Not sure what point you are trying to make here Peter?? 2 more games played yielding 8 more goals, I'd take that all day.

Maybe his unforced pass to the Burnley player that set up their goal didn't set alarm bells ringing. His ball retention is awful and a risk to the team. If he sorts it out then he could be a very good player.... IF

Didn't we win against Burnley with Lukaku scoring the goal to get us back into the lead?

His ball retention is rubbish, I am not arguing with you... but goals win games and he scores goals, he has done since he has been in England.

If we are talking about attacks breaking down, what about Jagielka's long diagonal balls, Ossie being muscled off the ball, Baines's corners not getting past the first man, Coleman being unable to get past the defender, McGeady... being McGeady, Barkley losing the ball or misplacing a pass?

I could go on, it's not just him that causes turnovers in play because of his first touch. He also has moments when he controls it well and lays it off but, like always, we all seem to focus mostly on the mistakes, not what players have done well.

He will be judged on his scoring record because he is a striker and he is still almost a 1 in 2 striker. How long has it been since we had one of them?

Overpriced? – of course he was but lets his goals do the talking, not the fact that he has the touch of a rapist (sorry Ched!)

If he continues to score around 1 in 2 then I don't think anyone will complain much about that hefty price tag. So far this season, though he is scoring at 1 in 4. Maybe he is injured or unfit. Who knows. But I do know that if he isn't scoring regularly then the rest of his game at present does not merit his inclusion in a team attempting to achieve top 4.

Too many attacks break down with him and the negatives outweigh the positives unless he's putting it in the back of the onion bag more often. Hopefully he's shaking off whatever has been bothering him and we are about to see a return to goalscoring form. If not, then Roberto is going to have some tough decisions to make.

If you are honestly trying to compare a 21 year old to a 32 year old then you really are struggling. Give Lukaku a chance to develop his game then judge.

If that is the case he should be out of the squad until he is fit.

I thought clubs learnt a long time ago that playing on a regular basis with pain killing injections causes long term health problems for players.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Osman or Hibbert in midfield if Gibson isn't fit

I hope he carries on being shite for us for the next 5 years.

But at the moment what frustrates me more than anything is watching Naismith receive the ball just past the centre circle, turn and pass the ball out wide and then sprint his nuts off past Lukaku and into the box to try and get on the end of a cross whilst Lukaku stands watching all this happen and then lightly jogs to the edge of the box. Put some effort in, lad!

That first goal he scored vs West Ham – that's what we want to see, real bust-a-gut effort to make sure he got on the end of that cross. At the moment, it seems like he has got a contract and he no longer feels the need to make the effort.