Romelu Lukaku: Proving me wrong?

Romelu Lukaku is a player I have never rated very highly. Immensely powerful, a decent goal return, youth on his side; all true and undeniable, and yet his poor first touch, decision making and lack of movement have meant I have given him a lot of criticism since he has come onto the scene. I watched him closely against Liverpool yesterday, however, and he put in a performance that suggested he is improving these defects.

Although he is only 22, Lukaku has been playing in the Premier League for a number of seasons. Youth is often given as an explanation for rash decision making, petulance and positional naivety. Due to his experience, I did not feel this was a valid excuse for Lukaku’s almost non-existent movement up front in so many matches. Last season particularly, he was static up front and did not use his considerable pace and strength to full effect, which is to hinder his best qualities. His link up play was limited too, and he looked largely disinterested in matches unless he had a clear goal scoring chance. Forward play involves far more than just scoring goals if a chance happens to fall your way.

Just looking at basic numbers, Lukaku’s goal scoring has always been good for Everton and even last season he still got into double figures, scoring ten in the Premier League and 20 in all competitions. I am not overly interested in his goal tallies, however, and it was not his well taken opportunistic strike against Liverpool that caused me to write this article. Moreover, it was his mature link up play and composed decision making that was so impressive and improved. Almost every time he received the ball, whether aerially or into feet, he controlled it well and shielded it successfully from Liverpool’s defenders. The next step is often where younger players get it wrong, by trying to take on too many men or attempt an ambitious shot but Lukaku successfully created space for himself with his shielding and took the necessary time to lay it off to a midfield runner. At times isolated, Lukaku did well in moving with the ball whilst looking for available recipients to pass to. He used his strength to his advantage and used his brain simultaneously. His movement has improved too, he is more eager to run the channels now and did so well against Liverpool on both the left and right sides. His timing of runs resulted in chances for teammates and for himself and Simon Mignolet had to make some important saves.

Lukaku still has major flaws in his game, but his performances this season and particularly against Liverpool yesterday show tangible progress and maturity, showing both great control and intelligence. Merely being young does not mean a player will improve with age, they need the requisite quality to go with it. This tactically spot-on performance against Liverpool did at least give me reason to reassess my old opinion of his ability.