Martinez backs Lukaku to start season strong

“His sharpness is going to come, he got in great positions and though his usual clinical finishing wasn't there he was always a focal point for attack.....”

Possibly the funniest thing I have ever read.

To me it's not particularly unusual for a striker to be a bit rusty in his first full game in pre-season?

And for perspective, if Sterling is worth 㿝M, 㿈M for a player who has scored 36 goals for us across two seasons now doesn't seem quite so bad.

It doesn't even make the top 1,000 funniest things I have ever read.

But then again, I am widely read.

I'm guessing you Paul are thinly read.

Isn't Paul allowed to have an opinion?

Why so aggressive Jamie?

It wasn't meant to be aggressive at all, Ste. I was just completely perplexed about what there could possibly be in those two sentences to find amusing. Perhaps you could break it down for me?

What was it last season? He is tired because of the World Cup (despite hardly playing in it). Then what was the reason for just two goals from open play after early December?

Now he's lacking sharpness, but he looked rusty and lacking sharpness at the end of last season too.

I said on a post yesterday he divides opinion, his faults for me are his overall ability to hold the ball up, which include first touch and strength being vital. Also, he just doesn't look comfortable being lone striker and he's the type of guy who needs lots of support and chances made for him; he's not going to create something from nothing with hard work like Andy Johnson or Marcus Bent.

I also think he needs to shed the same demeanor that held Victor Anichebe back. Built equally like man-mountains with an athlete's physique, whilst Rom is a better goalscorer, they share the annoying trait of not using their power and physique against average defenders. Rom was too often bullied out of things last term and nobody can deny that from watching us on a weekly basis.

It will be interesting to see what his Premier League goal return will be this season without Europe to boost the rather modest tally of 10 in the league (for a 㿈 million striker anyway).

I'd suggest he needs to become more prolific, he needs 18-20 league goals this time.

However. He scores goals. The more chances he has created for him, the more interested he will become. Hopefully he will also create some of his own.

I still ask myself what's happened to this Lukaku that bulldozed his way through opponents in the first 10 games of his initial loan spell?

He just hasn't had the same commitment levels since those early months and if he had, then I very much doubt he would be receiving criticism at all.

You got the feeling too often at times last season he was, as you put it, Ian, "disinterested". Why then did he look so different in the early months of his loan period?

Was it merely to put two fingers up to Jose Mourinho? Or was it to eventually win back a place at Chelsea and now it hasn't happened, the same heart and commitment has dissolved into an "Oh I can't really be bothered with this today" kind of attitude?

It's not just noticed by the supporters, it's former club legend strikers that demand he must do more, he must show more, he must work more, move more when receiving the ball and laying it off, be harder to knock off the ball.

One of the reasons Blues fell in love with strikers as limited as Bent or Stracqualursi was not for their abilities but the heart and effort, it was priceless, Andy Johnson too.

We can accept a striker having a nightmare game, it happens to the best, but please Rom when you are having a bad spell just keep working hard, run that extra yard for the sake of your teammates, the fan's will love you for it.

Play to his strengths and you will see a 㿈 million player... even in a poor season, he scored goals. Use tactics like we saw last season and we will see more of the same. Again, over to you, Roberto...

I'd rather have him in our team than playing for the opposition. I think a lot of the frustration stems from knowing how good he can be. He just needs to show it more.

He only seemed to shine for us for a very short period and since then has followed in a very worrying trend of strikers who have played for us in the last 10 years by starting quite well and becoming anonymous over time.

What Roberto is basing these latest comments on, I do not know. One suspects he's merely trying to improve the player's morale. I would be surprised if he gets over 10 Premier League goals this season.

I'd love to see us ditch a defensive midfielder and push someone further up with Rom.

Good to see in the 2nd half of the Stoke game that we were trying to play the ball early into him; we just need that quality Number 10 supplying the better pass into him. He will score given the right ammunition but I would still like to see him bully defenders around him even if things aren't going his way.

Spot on. Lukaku is class given the right service. He is the kind of player that needs constant good service. He will miss a stack of chances but he will always score goals.

Our absolute Number One priority is a top creative midfielder to supply the chances for him. Without this player it will be another difficult season.

Tim Cahill was an ideal player in this position too. Goals, presence, narky bastard, kept the ref on his toes, and knew when to leave an elbow in.

Is it because he doesn't work hard and run around like a headless chicken? A bit like Marcus Bent? How many goals did he score?

I like a striker to score goals? Not bothered in what competition.

I agree though, he needs a footballing brain next to him.

Many of the world's best strikers got nowhere near Lukaku's stats at his age. He has started 81 league games over the past 3 seasons, and he has 42 goals and 15 assists. That's not just great for someone of his age, it's fantastic. Yet, fans on here will constantly have a go and criticise his technique, his attitude, and ignore consistently that we are playing a style of play that does not suit him.

I wonder how many goals Drogba would score in last season's team? How many times we've have a go at him because his touch was poorer than most strikers?

We need to play the ball quicker, and play to Lukaku's strengths. We need to get him in behind and get him one-on-one. I cannot imagine many more frustrating attacking midfielders to play in front of, than Mirallas (holds the ball too long, likes too shoot), Barkley (holds the ball far too long, loves to shoot), Deulofeu (holds the ball far too long, loves to dribble and shoot), McGeady (trick and cross, or trick and shoot, or trick and something in between). I wonder how Lukaku would do playing in an Arsenal teams with the likes of Ozil, Cazorla and Wilshere playing balls in behind and pulling balls back to him?

Lukaku's success at our club relies on us finding that creative midfielder, and in playing quicker football. Fans will constantly have a go at his technique on this website – but what about his strengths? He needs to work on his weaknesses but we need to play his strengths. If we do, and Lukaku stays fit, he will score 15-20 league goals this season. To reiterate – he is 22. And 㿃 million (minus the ٣million) for someone of his age and his scoring record is not outrageous. It's not his fault he cost a lot of money, and it might be best to look at Lukaku's strengths, rather than his weaknesses.

And Nicky – fancy a bet on the 10 goals thing? I'm sure I can get set up a bet on betfair or wherever.

Both of them have the ability to knit together quick, incisive passes. I would suggest that with Baines, Gibson, Osman and Pienaar in the team, Lukaku would get the ball a lot quicker and in more threatening positions.

Having them all fit together is unlikely, but I'd be more excited about that combination than the likes of Barkley and Deulofeu. Barkley and Deulofeu may be the future, but Lukaku needs feeding now!

Gibson, McCarthy/Cleverley, Mirallas, Osman, Pienaar, Lukaku

That ould be my midfield and attack. However, I realise the need to build for the future and the injury/fitness issues. But I think we would see some intelligent fast moving football, and the best of Lukaku.

McCarthy and Cleverley
Deulofeu - Osman - Mirallas
Lukaku

Or McCarthy and Cleverley
Pienaar - Mirallas/Barkley - Deulofeu/Mirallas

I think Mirallas and Deulofeu are both so dangerous going forward, and offer significant threat. But I think that Cleverley and Osman/Pienaar would be necessary as a means to control the tempo a little, and feed in our attacking players behind.

Unfortunately Pienaar is 34 now, and I do not see him as good enough for what we want him to be. I'd say the same about Osman too, although his presence in the team at the tail-end of the season really helped because he restored some balance. Ideally we need to find a younger Pienaar for this team, and should concentrate all our efforts in finding a playmaker and the centre-back we need.

Lukaku just doesn't have the zip to run on to balls unless he finds space wide where he can cut inside and have a shot. Delboy or Mirallas are the ones with the zip and it is up to them along with Seamus to provide the speed to open up the space for Lukaku.

Pienaar and Osman will prove their worth once again this season. Providing they can stay fit.

Mirallas and Deulofeu
or
Pienaar and Osman

There is only one winner there. Of course age and fitness is a factor, but when fit, Pienaar and Osman for me. Even in pre-season these two have played the most intricate and threatening passes. It was Pienaar who played Lukaku in for his off-side goal.

Rom ran his heart out against Stoke and ran their defence ragged. 90 mins in the heat after 7/8 days into pre-season is mighty impressive. I loved his Maradona turn and a tad unlucky with his duel with their goalie.

Earlier balls look to be part of the plan, Del-boy stretching defences and a very fit Rom hitting the first ten games will provide a great basis for our season. Tom, Besic and Barks will provide the ammunition from midfield. I noticed the counter attack coming back in this week's game.

Latchford took till his 3rd season and Sharpy was not prolific until his third and fourth etc ..

Rom is at 22 in their class and hopefully we can do something special this year to make him stay or get 㿞M for him next year.

From my perspective if we play to Lukaku's strengths over a season he will deliver the goals.

As has been mentioned, I believe his strength is running onto balls, from which position he is virtually unstoppable, as opposed to playing with his back to goal and holding up play. If anybody, he reminds me of Andy Cole, at his best. It is interesting too, to note the call for a quick footed No 10 to play alongside him. Dare I say it, Shankly did this with Toshack and Keegan and Toshack, when he managed Swansea, replicated this with Alan Waddle and David Giles. In both those cases, though, it worked well because the "big" man won the ball in the air and the quick-footed one scored off the knock downs.

I cannot see that style being particularly successful for us, however, as we are not geared towards playing high balls into our striker from the flanks, so the "Andy Cole" option, to me, seems far more favourable.

And so I think this could be a big season for him; it is a win-win situation for Everton.

The part in emphasis tells me maybe Roberto is getting the message about needing to provide more realistic assessments of his players. I think this is refreshing, both in terms of better fitness for Rom and more sense from Roberto.

Can you honestly watch Lukaku and not cringe at the flaws? Balls were played to feet on Wednesday and just bounced off him in random 50p directions. He got the ball played in front of him so he could run with it... only to spoon the ball horribly. The supply to him in general on Wednesday was pretty good by all accounts. The fact that he could only score one disallowed goal from all those chances is just all too familiar, I'm afraid. I hope he will improve this season, I really do...

Yes, he's only 22... yes, It's not his fault he cost a lot of money... what was that about mindless repetition? There would two new rules I'd like to introduce. Fines for saying something that has already been said. And anyone making a prediction would have to put up money, subject to forfeit. At least this would help with our running costs!

Against Stoke the team were trying to get the ball forward early and quickly but with 20-yd or 30-yd passes which didn't really work. Only Pienaar opened up the Stoke defence with one quality pass, so Pienaar must start the season well and hopefully with no injuries and we could play him behind Rom and he will score loads.

Lukaku is quality and you should all stop criticising him.

Its a simple realistic assessment and I'm sure Duncan Ferguson or whoever will work with Rom over the coming months will say many of the same thing's, you need criticism sometimes to actually learn more.

For me, he is not clinical enough – when those chances come to him, he should be scoring, especially if he is the Champions League quality striker people think he is.

(I'd love to see any EFC player fire in a hat-trick mind you. It's a mythical thing for us lot.)

I would like to see him drop the too cool for school act, and start to get at defenders from the very first minute. He could learn a lot from the likes of Costa and Suarez. Love them or hate them, they work bloody hard and get their due rewards. He needs to put himself about more and get a little nasty.

I could forgive the odd poor touch or missed chance if he worked his nuts off.

So put him in the box and get decent crosses in to him. Give him those opportunities and I'm sure he will get plenty of goals. After all, that's what he is there for, to score. As they say, goals win matches. Not running up and down the pitch.

For a big strong boy, he ducks out of tackles too often also. I just want to see more honest effort from him and better movement. As for his goal record, remember that RM took the penalties away from Bainsey last year, improving Rom's stats considerably.