But as I've said above, not impossible but it's really hard to drill positional / spatial awareness into someone because it depends more on person's instincts.
I didn't say it's quite impossible, but as you've said it, it's rather improbable he'll ever be able to do it on a level that's required for a top team. But I disagree with a notion that it doesn't have to come naturally, because it's really really hard to drill positional / spatial awareness into someone.
But as I've said above, not impossible but it's really hard to drill positional / spatial awareness into someone
The older you are, the more difficult it is to learn something. The timing/positioning before duels can be trained with specific drills and video analysis. The "instincts" is as you state more difficult and more abstract.
Not just that. Lukaku in the interview says that he knew he was overweight at the start of the season. So why has it taken till December to lose the weight? Even normal people can lose 3-4 kgs in a month. This guy playing a sport like football could have easily lost the extra pounds. But it looks like the big man just can't follow a diet.Not the first time in recent years we've had a player bulk up stupidly.
Depay, Rooney, Schweinsteiger, Anderson, Lukaku have all bulked up, some through added muscle and some through just getting fat.
What on earth are we doing at the club? Why does this keep being allowed to happen?
Not the first time in recent years we've had a player bulk up stupidly.
Depay, Rooney, Schweinsteiger, Anderson, Lukaku have all bulked up, some through added muscle and some through just getting fat.
What on earth are we doing at the club? Why does this keep being allowed to happen?
@JPRouve was correct in stating that the best age for developing technical attributes like touch and general technique is when a player is younger, they're far more mouldable then but even as you get older, there is still a large amount that you can train it. However innate ability also plays a part, you could give two players the exact time on the training pitch and still get wildly differing results in terms of how they develop their first touch. To say Lukaku had less training on his first touch over the years compared to say Lewa.. and that is the only reason why his touch is worse, is a weak argument.
As for positional and spatial awareness, that is definitely more coachable into later age, look at the way Pep and Klopp have developed likes of Milner, Henderson, Delph, Sterling etc and their positional games have really gone up a notch under their coaching as their entire gameplan is based upon accurate positioning with and without the ball and thus it forces players to get to grips with understanding where they need to be at the right time.
There are some players who have innate positional awareness and they tend to be the best players, and are allowed to roam the pitch or lead their segment of the pitch as you can trust them to micro-manage their colleagues on the pitch in the heat of battle. Someone like Cruyff, Beckenbauer... they didn't really need much telling in terms of where they need to be on the pitch, they received some guidance of course, but eventually they transcended their coaches in terms of their understanding of the positional side of the game.
In short, innate ability plays a big role in terms of how much coaching/guidance can have an impact. Training first touch to an elite level without innate ability and at a older age is nigh on impossible IMO i.e. a Lukaku could never become a Berbatov even with daily 10 hour sessions, but you can coach a naturally medicore player positionally into a very solid component of a unit and reliable positionally with the right coaching - its not guaranteed, but it is not impossible or as difficult.
IMO his touch is the biggest concern, he gets a good touch, no defender is going to tackle him and he can easily hold them off.Lukaku tried to do the Shaquille O'Neal. Put on more weight/muscle to make it impossible for CBs to stop him. Suprisingly such a strategy does not translate well from the NBA to football.
As you correctly state; Lukaku already had enough muscle to beat defenders(too much in my eyes). His two biggest problems appart from his touch are timing and positioning. His lack of competence in these areas are clearly visible on the pitch. The amount of duels he loses to smaller/weaker CBs is too high, and this is due to his positioning before the duel and that he times his jump wrong. If he can fix these shortcomings then he could potentialy be a starting striker for a title winning team. Suarez and Lewandoski are two players Lukaku should study.
It's because Pogba is a bit of a maverick who likes to do things his own way. He contrasts sharply with the more sycophantic Lukaku.Imagine what mou would have said if Pogba had done something to hinder us to appease France
Not the first time in recent years we've had a player bulk up stupidly.
Depay, Rooney, Valencia, Schweinsteiger, Anderson, Lukaku have all bulked up, some through added muscle and some through just getting fat.
What on earth are we doing at the club? Why does this keep being allowed to happen?
It's because Pogba is a bit of a maverick who likes to do things his own way. He contrasts sharply with the more sycophantic Lukaku.
@JPRouve was correct in stating that the best age for developing technical attributes like touch and general technique is when a player is younger, they're far more mouldable then but even as you get older, there is still a large amount that you can train it. However innate ability also plays a part, you could give two players the exact time on the training pitch and still get wildly differing results in terms of how they develop their first touch. To say Lukaku had less training on his first touch over the years compared to say Lewa.. and that is the only reason why his touch is worse, is a weak argument.
As for positional and spatial awareness, that is definitely more coachable into later age, look at the way Pep and Klopp have developed likes of Milner, Henderson, Delph, Sterling etc and their positional games have really gone up a notch under their coaching as their entire gameplan is based upon accurate positioning with and without the ball and thus it forces players to get to grips with understanding where they need to be at the right time.
Hazard is Belgium's star player and he likes to have a strong target man to play off and hold the ball up for him. That's why he said that Giroud was his ideal strike partner and he much prefers him over Morata at Chelsea.I said it in another thread that whoever advised him to do this is an idiot, and if it was with Belgium i'd be even more surprised because it's under Martinez where he was playing some of his best stuff and that was as a much leaner Lukaku. His best stuff included being able to have the immense pace and capability to drive past players without needing an amazing touch at all, he had the capability to do that if he was allowed to float out to the wide areas and he showed that in his first season for you guys a bit. He also didn't need any extra strength at all, he was more than capable of bullying defenders in the box to win headers and knockdowns to finish off an attack. The main fundamentals in his game that were poor were technical, nothing to do with physicality.
Not the first time in recent years we've had a player bulk up stupidly.
Depay, Rooney, Valencia, Schweinsteiger, Anderson, Lukaku have all bulked up, some through added muscle and some through just getting fat.
What on earth are we doing at the club? Why does this keep being allowed to happen?
Disagree. Rooney suddenly started scoring a lot of headers and tap-ins from the 08/09 seasons. A lot of those came from timing his jumps and runs a lot better, and improved positioning. So it is possible. Of course Rooney was an incredibly gifted and intelligent footballer.Don't think he can improve those aspects of his game tbh, unlike first touch and passing which you can somewhat improve with training, those you've mentioned gotta come naturally imo.
Hazard is Belgium's star player and he likes to have a strong target man to play off and hold the ball up for him. That's why he said that Giroud was his ideal strike partner and he much prefers him over Morata at Chelsea.
At least the issue has been recognised and Lukaku already looked noticeably slimmer against Fulham on the weekend.
Disagree. Rooney suddenly started scoring a lot of headers and tap-ins from the 08/09 seasons. A lot of those came from timing his jumps and runs a lot better, and improved positioning. So it is possible. Of course Rooney was an incredibly gifted and intelligent footballer.
Rooney was always famed for his leaping ability and his strength on the ball despite his somewhat short stature dude.
Yeah that's true am just speculating because I can't think of any other reason why he did that or was asked to with Belgium. It was unnecessary.I get your point but Hazard likes Giroud because he can control the ball and pass it cleanly when under physical pressure, it's not just because he is a strong target man. Lukaku lacks the two main attributes.
@Handré1990 guys initial discussion was about Lukaku's ability to time his jumping and position himself in situations when he gotta shield the ball and jump to bring the hoofball down (something Rooney was great at, despite his somewhat small stature), not his ability to score headers.There was a time when Rooney didn't score a headed goal for years, then it all clicked in 2009-10 season. He improved a lot and IIRC he said he worked a lot on his heading.
Rojo has also looked bulked up and looked almost bloated when he was subbed on Saturday. Which he has never been even close to before. There are some questions to be asked of Mourinhos team for sure when it comes to this.Not the first time in recent years we've had a player bulk up stupidly.
Depay, Rooney, Valencia, Schweinsteiger, Anderson, Lukaku have all bulked up, some through added muscle and some through just getting fat.
What on earth are we doing at the club? Why does this keep being allowed to happen?
@Handré1990 guys initial discussion was about Lukaku's ability to time his jumping and position himself in situations when he gotta shield the ball and jump to bring the hoofball down (something Rooney was great at, despite his somewhat small stature), not his ability to score headers.
But regarding Rooney's headers, the time period you guys have mentioned is the time he became our main attacking opinion, right after Ronaldo (who's famed for his leaping and scoring headers) departed.
His media team read the news and forums and tell him to say things which we'll all agree with. We pat ourselves on the back, give him a bit more of a free pass, he eventually returns to form. "We did that" we all say, feeling smug and knowledgeable. Nothing to do with any change in body shape, which is almost certainly a bollocks. And around we go.
Everyone, looses weight for the world cup, this lad thinks the opposite, and the funny thing is, the medical and physio department at the club has no problems with him gaining muscle and weight. Just when he started to get exposed, the reactiveness took over to set things right.
Agree with Lukaku's inability to judge the flight of the ball, don't think he can improve much there. For some reasons his timing is just awful.
Regarding Rooney, he had weakness in the game and he worked on it. He was playing as second striker for most of his Manutd career and he barely scored a headed goal. Remember in 2006-07 when he scored a header vs Arsenal, commentator said that was his first headed goal, after that he scored just 2 headed goal till 2009-10 season. So in first 5-6 years he scored 3 headers in PL for Manutd. It was a clear weakness in his game.