Burnley 1 Everton 3 (Eto'o (2), Lukaku)

Tonteau wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:

Right now he's not very good. Nais is better, Eto'o is better.  He's our third best striker.  Coleman is playing better, Baines is playing better, Barkley is playing better, Mirallas was playing better, Luka's one of our weakest players.  He's scored four goals as our main striker, playing almost every minute of every game which, as I've said, is one goal more than our right back has scored, who has been out injured. I've got nothing against him, I hope he scores loads and starts looking like a £28m player.   He hasn't so far. He's not been very good.

Right now is the point. He's playing poorly, his first touch is bad and he lacks confidence. Yet he's still scored 4 goals. He has a goals to games ratio of about 1 in 2, whenever he gets to play. That's the sign of a good player to me.

He'll get better, I have no doubt. At the moment, I think his own frustration with his form has meant he's trying too hard to score and as a result has lost his composure a little.

Yeah - I agree with this. He is playing badly, no doubt, but he is still scoring goals. He is a natural goalscorer. Will he play badly for an entire season? Logic dictates he won't, but even if he did you would still expect him to net about 15 times based on current ratios. I think he'll improve a lot over the course of the season.

Barry Horne's Equaliser wrote:

Tonteau wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:

Right now he's not very good. Nais is better, Eto'o is better.  He's our third best striker.  Coleman is playing better, Baines is playing better, Barkley is playing better, Mirallas was playing better, Luka's one of our weakest players.  He's scored four goals as our main striker, playing almost every minute of every game which, as I've said, is one goal more than our right back has scored, who has been out injured. I've got nothing against him, I hope he scores loads and starts looking like a £28m player.   He hasn't so far. He's not been very good.

Right now is the point. He's playing poorly, his first touch is bad and he lacks confidence. Yet he's still scored 4 goals. He has a goals to games ratio of about 1 in 2, whenever he gets to play. That's the sign of a good player to me.

He'll get better, I have no doubt. At the moment, I think his own frustration with his form has meant he's trying too hard to score and as a result has lost his composure a little.

Yeah - I agree with this. He is playing badly, no doubt, but he is still scoring goals. He is a natural goalscorer. Will he play badly for an entire season? Logic dictates he won't, but even if he did you would still expect him to net about 15 times based on current ratios. I think he'll improve a lot over the course of the season.

Agreed.

On balance would you take Sturridge/Balotelli/Sterling/Lambert/Lallana as a combination over Eto'o/Lukaku/Naismith/Kone/Barkley - I personally wouldn't because in the various one up/two up or three striker combinations I believe we probably do have the edge in balance and capability....

Uwist61 wrote:

Barry Horne's Equaliser wrote:

Tonteau wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:

Right now he's not very good. Nais is better, Eto'o is better.  He's our third best striker.  Coleman is playing better, Baines is playing better, Barkley is playing better, Mirallas was playing better, Luka's one of our weakest players.  He's scored four goals as our main striker, playing almost every minute of every game which, as I've said, is one goal more than our right back has scored, who has been out injured. I've got nothing against him, I hope he scores loads and starts looking like a £28m player.   He hasn't so far. He's not been very good.

Right now is the point. He's playing poorly, his first touch is bad and he lacks confidence. Yet he's still scored 4 goals. He has a goals to games ratio of about 1 in 2, whenever he gets to play. That's the sign of a good player to me.

He'll get better, I have no doubt. At the moment, I think his own frustration with his form has meant he's trying too hard to score and as a result has lost his composure a little.

Yeah - I agree with this. He is playing badly, no doubt, but he is still scoring goals. He is a natural goalscorer. Will he play badly for an entire season? Logic dictates he won't, but even if he did you would still expect him to net about 15 times based on current ratios. I think he'll improve a lot over the course of the season.

Agreed.

On balance would you take Sturridge/Balotelli/Sterling/Lambert/Lallana as a combination over Eto'o/Lukaku/Naismith/Kone/Barkley - I personally wouldn't because in the various one up/two up or three striker combinations I believe we probably do have the edge in balance and capability....

Our Achilles heel will be if we play Luke, Eto'o and Nais together. Perm any 2 from 3, with the usual 16 and 18 in the middle and 2 wide men. A better team would have exposed our weaknesses on the flanks.
Ossie and Nais in those wide spots was a big weakness.

I think you're setting incredibly low standards for Luka here. He's our £28m striker, not some squaddie.

Here are the facts from Soccerbase for our three (fit) strikers for all games so far this season (including internationals):

Lukaku 15 games 4 goals
Naismith 13 games 5 goals
Eto'o 9 games 4 goals.

Like I've said, even Seamus has scored 3 from just 8 games.

So, if all you're judging players by is goals, he's underachieving.

Throw into the mix how effective the three, plus Seamus, have been apart from the goals and Lukaku is by some distance the weakest. He should be scoring more than the others, he should be adding more assists than the others. He's the most expensive player we have ever bought by a country mile. Take away his pretty ordinary goal-scoring record since he signed for us, and he's been dogshit.

I'm not saying he won't improve, just being realistic. He's been a huge disappointment this season, as he was for the back end of last season, as he was at the World Cup.

hairberto cataract wrote:I think you're setting incredibly low standards for Luka here.  He's our £28m striker, not some squaddie.

Here are the facts from Soccerbase for our three (fit) strikers for all games so far this season (including internationals):

Lukaku 15 games 4 goals
Naismith 13 games 5 goals
Eto'o 9 games 4 goals.

Like I've said, even Seamus has scored 3 from just 8 games.

So, if all you're judging players by is goals, he's underachieving.

Throw into the mix how effective the three, plus Seamus, have been apart from the goals and Lukaku is by some distance the weakest.  He should be scoring more than the others, he should be adding more assists than the others. He's the most expensive player we have ever bought by a country mile.  Take away his pretty ordinary goal-scoring record since he signed for us, and he's been dogshit.

I'm not saying he won't improve, just being realistic.  He's been a huge disappointment this season, as he was for the back end of last season, as he was at the World Cup.

let's wait until the end of the season before we hang him out to dry, he has not been fit due to Boobyo allowing him an extra six weeks off pre-season and he has been playing with an injured foot. he'll still score 20 goals this season though (barring a proper injury like Kone's..... )

Sack the Juggler wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:I think you're setting incredibly low standards for Luka here.  He's our £28m striker, not some squaddie.

Here are the facts from Soccerbase for our three (fit) strikers for all games so far this season (including internationals):

Lukaku 15 games 4 goals
Naismith 13 games 5 goals
Eto'o 9 games 4 goals.

Like I've said, even Seamus has scored 3 from just 8 games.

So, if all you're judging players by is goals, he's underachieving.

Throw into the mix how effective the three, plus Seamus, have been apart from the goals and Lukaku is by some distance the weakest.  He should be scoring more than the others, he should be adding more assists than the others. He's the most expensive player we have ever bought by a country mile.  Take away his pretty ordinary goal-scoring record since he signed for us, and he's been dogshit.

I'm not saying he won't improve, just being realistic.  He's been a huge disappointment this season, as he was for the back end of last season, as he was at the World Cup.

let's wait until the end of the season before we hang him out to dry, he has not been fit due to Boobyo allowing him an extra six weeks off pre-season and he has been playing with an injured foot. he'll still score 20 goals this season though (barring a proper injury like Kone's.....  )

I agree, but let's also be realistic about what he's achieved so far in 2014. He's been a shadow of the player he was for WBA and of the player he was for us in the first few months of last season. His limitations have become very apparent, particularly his first touch, and we can only hope that the coaching staff are working on those parts of his game.

And we really can't be using the pre-season as an excuse for his lack of fitness coming into November.

Sack the Juggler wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:I think you're setting incredibly low standards for Luka here.  He's our £28m striker, not some squaddie.

Here are the facts from Soccerbase for our three (fit) strikers for all games so far this season (including internationals):

Lukaku 15 games 4 goals
Naismith 13 games 5 goals
Eto'o 9 games 4 goals.

Like I've said, even Seamus has scored 3 from just 8 games.

So, if all you're judging players by is goals, he's underachieving.

Throw into the mix how effective the three, plus Seamus, have been apart from the goals and Lukaku is by some distance the weakest.  He should be scoring more than the others, he should be adding more assists than the others. He's the most expensive player we have ever bought by a country mile.  Take away his pretty ordinary goal-scoring record since he signed for us, and he's been dogshit.

I'm not saying he won't improve, just being realistic.  He's been a huge disappointment this season, as he was for the back end of last season, as he was at the World Cup.

let's wait until the end of the season before we hang him out to dry, he has not been fit due to Boobyo allowing him an extra six weeks off pre-season and he has been playing with an injured foot. he'll still score 20 goals this season though (barring a proper injury like Kone's.....  )

Everton fans are very tollerant at best , when a player is off his game as was Naismith, he knuckled down got fit, is now reaping the rewards.
Lukaku should be no exception , his fitness is paramount as a Striker , he is very lazy compaired to Samuel Eto'o. his fitness is way ahead of LUKAKU who is nearly 14 years younger.

SEFTON wrote:

Sack the Juggler wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:I think you're setting incredibly low standards for Luka here.  He's our £28m striker, not some squaddie.

Here are the facts from Soccerbase for our three (fit) strikers for all games so far this season (including internationals):

Lukaku 15 games 4 goals
Naismith 13 games 5 goals
Eto'o 9 games 4 goals.

Like I've said, even Seamus has scored 3 from just 8 games.

So, if all you're judging players by is goals, he's underachieving.

Throw into the mix how effective the three, plus Seamus, have been apart from the goals and Lukaku is by some distance the weakest.  He should be scoring more than the others, he should be adding more assists than the others. He's the most expensive player we have ever bought by a country mile.  Take away his pretty ordinary goal-scoring record since he signed for us, and he's been dogshit.

I'm not saying he won't improve, just being realistic.  He's been a huge disappointment this season, as he was for the back end of last season, as he was at the World Cup.

let's wait until the end of the season before we hang him out to dry, he has not been fit due to Boobyo allowing him an extra six weeks off pre-season and he has been playing with an injured foot. he'll still score 20 goals this season though (barring a proper injury like Kone's.....  )

Everton fans are very tollerant at best , when a player is off his game as was Naismith, he knuckled down got fit, is now reaping the rewards.
Lukaku should be no exception , his fitness is paramount as a Striker , he is very lazy compaired to Samuel Eto'o. his fitness is way ahead of LUKAKU who is nearly 14 years younger.

I don't think he is lazy, people said that last season but he was making some great runs off the ball and then coming back, so you think he should sprint for 90 mins?

Sack the Juggler wrote:

SEFTON wrote:

Sack the Juggler wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:I think you're setting incredibly low standards for Luka here.  He's our £28m striker, not some squaddie.

Here are the facts from Soccerbase for our three (fit) strikers for all games so far this season (including internationals):

Lukaku 15 games 4 goals
Naismith 13 games 5 goals
Eto'o 9 games 4 goals.

Like I've said, even Seamus has scored 3 from just 8 games.

So, if all you're judging players by is goals, he's underachieving.

Throw into the mix how effective the three, plus Seamus, have been apart from the goals and Lukaku is by some distance the weakest.  He should be scoring more than the others, he should be adding more assists than the others. He's the most expensive player we have ever bought by a country mile.  Take away his pretty ordinary goal-scoring record since he signed for us, and he's been dogshit.

I'm not saying he won't improve, just being realistic.  He's been a huge disappointment this season, as he was for the back end of last season, as he was at the World Cup.

let's wait until the end of the season before we hang him out to dry, he has not been fit due to Boobyo allowing him an extra six weeks off pre-season and he has been playing with an injured foot. he'll still score 20 goals this season though (barring a proper injury like Kone's.....  )

Everton fans are very tollerant at best , when a player is off his game as was Naismith, he knuckled down got fit, is now reaping the rewards.
Lukaku should be no exception , his fitness is paramount as a Striker , he is very lazy compaired to Samuel Eto'o. his fitness is way ahead of LUKAKU who is nearly 14 years younger.

I don't think he is lazy, people said that last season but he was making some great runs off the ball and then coming back, so you think he should sprint for 90 mins?

Bye your own admittance you heard Lukaku is lazy, he is, no one can sprint for 90 minutes Juggs not even Usain Bolt, But with regards to Lukaku he should be fit for 90 .
minutes and he's not ,I cringe every time I see Lukaku in his own half cause he can't control or pass a ball , he has great potential as a striker but , he goes missing to much in games contributing very little.

SEFTON wrote:

Sack the Juggler wrote:

SEFTON wrote:

Sack the Juggler wrote:

hairberto cataract wrote:I think you're setting incredibly low standards for Luka here.  He's our £28m striker, not some squaddie.

Here are the facts from Soccerbase for our three (fit) strikers for all games so far this season (including internationals):

Lukaku 15 games 4 goals
Naismith 13 games 5 goals
Eto'o 9 games 4 goals.

Like I've said, even Seamus has scored 3 from just 8 games.

So, if all you're judging players by is goals, he's underachieving.

Throw into the mix how effective the three, plus Seamus, have been apart from the goals and Lukaku is by some distance the weakest.  He should be scoring more than the others, he should be adding more assists than the others. He's the most expensive player we have ever bought by a country mile.  Take away his pretty ordinary goal-scoring record since he signed for us, and he's been dogshit.

I'm not saying he won't improve, just being realistic.  He's been a huge disappointment this season, as he was for the back end of last season, as he was at the World Cup.

let's wait until the end of the season before we hang him out to dry, he has not been fit due to Boobyo allowing him an extra six weeks off pre-season and he has been playing with an injured foot. he'll still score 20 goals this season though (barring a proper injury like Kone's.....  )

Everton fans are very tollerant at best , when a player is off his game as was Naismith, he knuckled down got fit, is now reaping the rewards.
Lukaku should be no exception , his fitness is paramount as a Striker , he is very lazy compaired to Samuel Eto'o. his fitness is way ahead of LUKAKU who is nearly 14 years younger.

I don't think he is lazy, people said that last season but he was making some great runs off the ball and then coming back, so you think he should sprint for 90 mins?

Bye your own admittance you heard Lukaku is lazy, he is, no one can sprint for 90 minutes Juggs not even Usain Bolt, But with regards to Lukaku he should be fit for 90 .
minutes  and he's not ,I cringe every time I see Lukaku in his own half cause he can't control or pass a ball , he has great potential as a striker but , he goes missing to much in games contributing very little.

Sef, by my own admittance I said I didn't agree with it either

I suppose the only think in Lukaku's favor at the moment is that the goals are been spread around the team. I'd be more worried if we were drawing blanks every week which would have the fans getting on top of him too. Cant be much fun being a Villa fan at the moment! So he has time to get his confidence and sharpness back. Having Barkley back should help him too in the coming week. Agreed it hasn't been a great start to the season for him but he is still plugging away, keeping up with his games/goals ratio. With the defense looking like its getting its act together and slowing getting or winning rhythm going again, hopefully the goals will start to flow for Lukaku now.

Bluejagz wrote:I suppose the only think in Lukaku's favor at the moment is that the goals are been spread around the team. I'd be more worried if we were drawing blanks every week which would have the fans getting on top of him too. Cant be much fun being a Villa fan at the moment! So he has time to get his confidence and sharpness back. Having Barkley back should help him too in the coming week. Agreed it hasn't been a great start to the season for him but he is still plugging away, keeping up with his games/goals ratio. With the defense looking like its getting its act together and slowing getting or winning rhythm going again, hopefully the goals will start to flow for Lukaku now.

Your graphic reminds me of Going for Gold with Henry Kelly.