Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea's loss is Everton's gain

Everton’s Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku scores his second and his team’s third goal during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Newcastle United at Goodison Park.

After Romelu Lukaku missed the crucial spot kick for Chelsea against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup penalty shootout, it seemed like the world had come crashing down on the young Belgian striker. In hindsight, as he stood with his hands on the back of his head in utter disbelief after a weak spot kick that was saved by Manuel Neuer, it seemed like the decision to let him take the fifth kick was a burden too big to place on a 20-year-old’s shoulders.

Three days later, Chelsea loaned Lukaku to Everton after Jose Mourinho signed Samuel Eto’o from Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala. Having worked with him at Inter Milan, where they won the treble, it seemed like Mourinho knew what he was doing by bringing in experience as he rebuilt the squad left behind by a long line of successors.

But fast forward a month and Chelsea’s star studded line-up of strikers is yet to score a goal in the Premier League while Romelu Lukaku has already scored three (two as a starter and one as a substitute). His performances in the two games showcased exactly why he was one of the most lethal strikers last season when he scored 17 goals in the league for West Bromwich Albion. He reminded the fans of exactly what a powerful and agile striker can accomplish in the Premier League, bringing back memories of ex-Chelsea man Didier Drogba.

Not since the days of a young Michael Owen in the late ’90s with Liverpool has a teenage striker taken the league by storm and put in such convincing performances week in, week out. The move to Everton not only strengthened Roberto Martinez’s side, it has seen them become a well built unit that is now the only undefeated team in the Premier League this season.

So this begs the question; why did Mourinho loan out a top quality striker to a rival club when he could have made good use of him? And not just any club, but a club that has always challenged the top four teams in the league.

Chelsea have scored only six goals in the league so far, barring an own goal. Out of those, midfielders have scored 4 and defenders have scored 2. As Mourinho tinkers with the formation trying to find the right mix of players, he has on occasions left his strikers on the bench to allow more midfielders on the pitch.

When Eto’o has played, he has clearly looked out of depth in the Premier League (so far) with an occasional flash of brilliance, only to turn over the ball back to the opposition. He has managed to get himself into good positions but hasn’t been able to convert the chances created for him. He does try to create chances for himself as well, having successfully dribbled past an opponent twice. But his first touch has let him down a number of times.

Samuel Eto’o vs Fulham (Image courtesy Squawka.com)

Fernando Torres, on the other hand, is having another dismal season in the league. Torres has been deployed in a much deeper role than Eto’o has. While Eto’o plays near the defensive back line, thereby freeing up some space for the midfielders, Torres does the opposite and actually crowds the midfield with his play, and in the process, does not create a threat on goal. This also reflects in his numbers as he’s taken only 7 shots on goal – not exactly convincing numbers for a £50m striker.

Torres vs Spurs (Image courtesy Squawka.com)

Comparing Eto’o and Torres, we can see that both strikers have two different roles in Mourinho’s side. Eto’o spends more time in the opponent box while Torres plays a lot deeper in front of the midfield, a ploy that is quite bizarre to understand when you are talking about a player of Torres’s calibre. It’s not just the Spurs game where he played so deep (which could be attributed to the Spurs’ high defensive line), but his performances against Hull and Manchester United also paint a similar picture.

Chelsea’s midfielders Hazard, Oscar and Ramires have taken more shots on goal than the strikers have. Even John Obi Mikel has scored a goal!

By contrast, Lukaku has shown that he is a gifted, versatile player who can play in the No. 9 role at Everton. Involved in all three goals against Newcastle, he displayed how much of a threat he was in the box as well as in midfield during counter attacks. There was a sense of calmness in the way he went about things as he heaped misery on Alan Pardew’s side with two goals and an assist.

Lukaku vs Newcastle (Image courtesy Squawka.com)

Lukaku’s action areas show that he does not spend a majority of the 90 minutes in one area of the pitch. Martinez has deployed him as a pure No. 9 and ensured that he is allowed to use his entire repertoire of skills, be it his passing or his dribbling.

The first goal was a deft first touch strike near the six-yard box from a low cross and the second was even more impressive as he ghosted past two defenders to collect a Tim Howard long ball, had the awareness to see Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul charge at him and make another touch to get the ball past him, made a quick turn in the box to outfox a sliding Fabricio Coloccini and smashed the ball into an open net from three yards out. Not to mention the delightful through ball that assisted Ross Barkley to score Everton’s second goal; Lukaku was the complete package in a dominating performance at Goodison Park.

Martinez was all praise for Lukaku after Everton leapfrogged Chelsea to fourth place in the table and he revelled in the fact that Chelsea did not have the option of bringing him back to Stamford Bridge this season.

“You need to remember the strikers Chelsea have,” said Martinez. “They are a squad that has phenomenal talent up front. Romelu is still developing and the next step is to take what he did last season on to another level. We are just glad that we can have him.”

Chelsea’s loss is Everton’s gain. And by the end of the season, we will know whether Mourinho was right in letting Lukaku go or whether he was dead wrong.