Ademola Lookman

[London Blue]

5 hours ago, StevO said:

That’s fine if he’s playing in a central position. If he’s playing outside and comes central it makes it easy for the defence to stay tight, so you have to pull off something wonderful to make a difference. 

I agree, he may start on the wing but he loves to drift inside and stay there.

I think his movement, change of pace and skill can create chances, but it needs a full back who is better defensively, ie Kenny to make it work.

[StevO]

18 minutes ago, London Blue said:

I agree, he may start on the wing but he loves to drift inside and stay there.

I think his movement, change of pace and skill can create chances, but it needs a full back who is better defensively, ie Kenny to make it work.

For me it needs a full back who is better attacking, because someone needs to get wide to spread the defence. 

If he’s coming inside he’s got to pull either the full back out of the way so ours can get in behind him, pull a centre back out of the way so a forward or midfielder can use the space, or put the ball in the back of the net. I’m sure there are a few other things like, but you probably get what I mean. 

[London Blue]

20 minutes ago, StevO said:

For me it needs a full back who is better attacking, because someone needs to get wide to spread the defence. 

If he’s coming inside he’s got to pull either the full back out of the way so ours can get in behind him, pull a centre back out of the way so a forward or midfielder can use the space, or put the ball in the back of the net. I’m sure there are a few other things like, but you probably get what I mean. 

I get what you mean, and I agree, someone like Baines or Dinge who can take advantage of the defense being pulled out of shape.

But in the couple of games I have seen Lookman this season he has drifted inside and when teams have broken he has not been in position to assist the full back. Either the defensive midfielder has to step in to cover, or we need a full back who is really good defensively.

Ideally we would give Kenny time to develop his attacking game, or send him on loan and get a right back version of Dinge who can attack and defend.

[Btay]

I’d start with a fullback who can take a touch and put a cross in that’s actually aimed at someone and not a general area!

[nogs]

Given that none of our wingers are great at tracking back I'd play three in midfield and let them cover the full backs. 

[nyblue23]

8 hours ago, nogs said:

Given that none of our wingers are great at tracking back I'd play three in midfield and let them cover the full backs. 

Problem is I don’t think any of our midfielders with the exception of Gana are particularly good at covering for the fullbacks, either.

[StevO]

8 hours ago, nogs said:

Given that none of our wingers are great at tracking back I'd play three in midfield and let them cover the full backs. 

Worked great under Roberto for a while with Barry and McCarthy, but you have to have the right players to do that. 

[nogs]

Yeah I agree Steve and NY, I think Gana, Gomes and Sigurdsson all have good attributes individually I'm just not sure they fit together. Still, if Sig could be persuaded to play a little bit deeper it would help, I think part of our problem is we always have four players who want to stick in advanced positions, when your full backs like to plough forward to you're going to get exposed. 

[Romey 1878]

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ademola-lookman-makes-confidence-admission-15678917

[Palfy]

On 10/01/2019 at 19:53, nogs said:

Yeah I agree Steve and NY, I think Gana, Gomes and Sigurdsson all have good attributes individually I'm just not sure they fit together. Still, if Sig could be persuaded to play a little bit deeper it would help, I think part of our problem is we always have four players who want to stick in advanced positions, when your full backs like to plough forward to you're going to get exposed. 

If that's the problem then the full backs become your wingers so go with a 352 Digne could cover the ground required not sure about Coleman.

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

How the flying fuck is Walcott not only starting against City but managing to stay on the pitch for 80 minutes when this lad didn’t even make the bench ?

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ademola-lookmans-omission-everton-squad-15802268

 

[Hafnia]

11 hours ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

How the flying fuck is Walcott not only starting against City but managing to stay on the pitch for 80 minutes when this lad didn’t even make the bench ?

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ademola-lookmans-omission-everton-squad-15802268

 

Silvas continued inclusion of walcott concerns me as much as anything.  Absolute fraud of a footballer. 

I can only guess that he is the consumate pro around finch farm etc and has Silvas back....  but whatever he is in training he is nothing on the pitch. I'd sooner have Kevin Kilbane or Simon Davies.

[Romey 1878]

11 hours ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

How the flying fuck is Walcott not only starting against City but managing to stay on the pitch for 80 minutes when this lad didn’t even make the bench ?

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ademola-lookmans-omission-everton-squad-15802268

 

Bizarre.

[Aidan]

To be fair Lookman hasn't really made much of an impact when starting games. However you could argue that Walcott hasn't either.

I know which one I'd choose week in week out.

[Bailey]

I didnt realise he wasnt on the bench... Strange one.

[Bill]

I'd choose Bernard over both of them.

[Gwlad]

Silva's going somewhere and has promised Admola that he'll sign him!!

[sydneyneil]

9 hours ago, Bill said:

I'd choose Bernard over both of them.

Bernard for me doesn’t do enough. Full of lovely touches but very little penetration. I’d like to know how many shots he’s had in what is likely over 20 appearances. Lookman has the most potential but for some reason Silva doesn’t fancy him either it appears. It’s like he needs to produce an 8/10 performance to keep his place when the aforementioned produce 5 or 6 and keep their place. Lookman needs a run of games in the team then we can judge him the same as the other two, who can count themselves fortunate to play so much.

[Palfy]

6 hours ago, sydneyneil said:

Bernard for me doesn’t do enough. Full of lovely touches but very little penetration. I’d like to know how many shots he’s had in what is likely over 20 appearances. Lookman has the most potential but for some reason Silva doesn’t fancy him either it appears. It’s like he needs to produce an 8/10 performance to keep his place when the aforementioned produce 5 or 6 and keep their place. Lookman needs a run of games in the team then we can judge him the same as the other two, who can count themselves fortunate to play so much.

Silva is making the same judgements as Koeman when it comes to team selection , he’s in shit street and panicking selecting the most expensive or experienced players over the best, Lookman doesn’t fall into the categories he’s selecting from. 

[Romey 1878]

9 hours ago, sydneyneil said:

Bernard for me doesn’t do enough. Full of lovely touches but very little penetration. I’d like to know how many shots he’s had in what is likely over 20 appearances. Lookman has the most potential but for some reason Silva doesn’t fancy him either it appears. It’s like he needs to produce an 8/10 performance to keep his place when the aforementioned produce 5 or 6 and keep their place. Lookman needs a run of games in the team then we can judge him the same as the other two, who can count themselves fortunate to play so much.

The thing with Bernard is that he's still getting used to the league, so bringing him in to start one game and then benching him for 2 isn'tt going to help him at all. He should just be started for 5 games in a row, no matter how he plays, so that we can get him up to speed. He's been handled all wrong IMO.

[Finn balor]

1 hour ago, Romey 1878 said:

The thing with Bernard is that he's still getting used to the league, so bringing him in to start one game and then benching him for 2 isn'ttt going to help him at all. He should just be started for 5 games in a row, no matter how he plays, so that we can get him up to speed. He's been handled all wrong IMO.

Totally. The lad is top class but he needs a run of games. Look at mata and David Silva. They got played on the wing and were half the players they are. He needs to play we’re gilfi plays. Watch him go if he plays in the “hole” you will see a different player after 5-10 games 

[Bailey]

3 hours ago, Romey 1878 said:

The thing with Bernard is that he's still getting used to the league, so bringing him in to start one game and then benching him for 2 isn'ttt going to help him at all. He should just be started for 5 games in a row, no matter how he plays, so that we can get him up to speed. He's been handled all wrong IMO.

He definitely needs to be starting ahead of the other wide players. When he did have a run of games he was getting better and then he has been in and out again. 

1 hour ago, Finn balor said:

Totally. The lad is top class but he needs a run of games. Look at mata and David Silva. They got played on the wing and were half the players they are. He needs to play we’re gilfi plays. Watch him go if he plays in the “hole” you will see a different player after 5-10 games 

But this took time. They played wide until they were used to the league and Mata almost always plays wide because he is such a luxury through the middle.

The other thing about Bernard is he barely stays on his feet when another player touches him. Not because he is diving like a certain other player but because he is very lightweight. Even when he has come through the middle for us he loses the ball because he is on his arse from a gust of air. The lad needs time to get used to the league and play week in week out. Maybe next season he can start being more influential through the centre but he deserves more time before he is pushed into a much more demanding position.

[StevO]

I don’t see anything in Lookmans game time this season to justify him starting, not that Walcott has done much better. 

For me we should have took the money in the summer. 

[Bailey]

37 minutes ago, StevO said:

I don’t see anything in Lookmans game time this season to justify him starting, not that Walcott has done much better. 

For me we should have took the money in the summer. 

I think its always going to be hard to justify anyone starting week in week out when they havent been given a chance to do so. That in itself is a chicken and egg scenario. 

Walcott has had his chance and IMO hasnt taken it, whereas Lookman has started maybe 1 or 2 games in a row and in fairness to him he looked great in one of those starts. One good performance doesnt mean anything though. 

The one thing I would say is that we have too many wingers for the spots available and that is making things difficult with such a small amount of games. Only 2 can play and that means Silva has to juggle the team around to keep players happy and then we end up with this situation where one comes in one week, then out the next. 

[pete0]

3 hours ago, StevO said:

I don’t see anything in Lookmans game time this season to justify him starting, not that Walcott has done much better. 

For me we should have took the money in the summer. 

Add to that, that last year albeit from little game Vlasic looked to have a lot more to him as well. Crazy that we owned down nearly £30m for the 5th (potentially 7th if you include Sig and Bolasie) choice. 

[sydneyneil]

10 hours ago, Finn balor said:

Totally. The lad is top class but he needs a run of games. Look at mata and David Silva. They got played on the wing and were half the players they are. He needs to play we’re gilfi plays. Watch him go if he plays in the “hole” you will see a different player after 5-10 games 

I just don’t see it. He’s far too lightweight to ever make it as a top player in this league. Silva and mata are both small too but they’re stronger. And also a different level of football player. Bernard falls over himself never mind when anyone comes near him. He’s been benched as often as he started and Fans have not really been banging the drum that he must start. And this team is really shit. That speaks volumes for me.

[sydneyneil]

And I like lookman. I think he’s a good passer, tries to make things happen and has a shot. If he started the next ten games I’d fancy him to get a couple of goals, I wouldn’t fancy Bernard to get a league goal this season...

[StevO]

7 hours ago, Bailey said:

I think its always going to be hard to justify anyone starting week in week out when they havent been given a chance to do so. That in itself is a chicken and egg scenario. 

Walcott has had his chance and IMO hasnt taken it, whereas Lookman has started maybe 1 or 2 games in a row and in fairness to him he looked great in one of those starts. One good performance doesnt mean anything though. 

The one thing I would say is that we have too many wingers for the spots available and that is making things difficult with such a small amount of games. Only 2 can play and that means Silva has to juggle the team around to keep players happy and then we end up with this situation where one comes in one week, then out the next. 

I get the point, but all I’ve seen is a lad with a lot of pace and ability turn back when faced up to a defender. I’ve hardly seen him run past a man, I’ve seen him offer no width (it’s so easy to defend when the attacking side go narrow). I’d love to see him get some chalk on his boots and beat a man, he’s capable, but he wants to come inside and play in front of the defender every time. We need him getting around the back, he doesn’t want to do it. 

I get the point that he’s not had many starts, but I don’t recall a winger needing a run of games to be able to run past a man or to even get wide. I’m just starting to doubt his ability to become a top premier league player. He isn’t seeing weakness in opponents and taking advantage.

Now to be balanced none of our wingers are, but I see players like Barnes at Leicester doing it, Gray at Leicester doing it, what’s the lads name at Leeds? There are young players out there going at defenders at scaring them, Lookman isn’t one of them. 

[DownUnderToff]

13 hours ago, pete0 said:

for the 5th (potentially 7th if you include Sig and Bolasie) choice.

You're having a laugh...surely...

[Bailey]

19 hours ago, StevO said:

I get the point, but all I’ve seen is a lad with a lot of pace and ability turn back when faced up to a defender. I’ve hardly seen him run past a man, I’ve seen him offer no width (it’s so easy to defend when the attacking side go narrow). I’d love to see him get some chalk on his boots and beat a man, he’s capable, but he wants to come inside and play in front of the defender every time. We need him getting around the back, he doesn’t want to do it. 

I get the point that he’s not had many starts, but I don’t recall a winger needing a run of games to be able to run past a man or to even get wide. I’m just starting to doubt his ability to become a top premier league player. He isn’t seeing weakness in opponents and taking advantage.

Now to be balanced none of our wingers are, but I see players like Barnes at Leicester doing it, Gray at Leicester doing it, what’s the lads name at Leeds? There are young players out there going at defenders at scaring them, Lookman isn’t one of them. 

You have to balance that off against the fact that none of our wingers are doing that. The one game Lookman did play really well in he did all you asked, but I agree he needs to do that consistently and not just in one game. 

The other two important things about Barnes and Gray in particular is that they permanently play on the counter attack whereas we will generally have more control of the ball and therefore there is less space for them to play. A little off piste but the one thing Martinez used to get right was that he knew how to work the ball so that it left the defender 1 v 1 with the winger. He made Calumn McManaman look like a world beater just he could isolate the full back and take him on. Its one of the same reason Pep keeps his wingers both so wide. By the time any of ours get decent ball they have normally been doubled up.