Lx3

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Unofficial Newcastle United Football Club BBS : One Thread

"Bobby Robson firmly believes Newcastle can nurture a new Craig Bellamy after Lomana Lua Lua finally broke his Premiership duck at Derby last Saturday.

United's boss is delighted with the African's progress but feels the 21-year-old needs to learn from the game's greatest dribblers if he is to emulate the sustained success of this season's PFA Young Player of the Year.

Indeed Robson has promised to teach Lua Lua a lesson in attacking football with a masterclass based on the talents of George Best, Ryan Giggs, Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney.

"Over the years all four have proved themselves as great dribblers but they have also demonstrated the ability to see the right pass as well," explained Robson, who feels that attribute is still lacking in Lua Lua's overall game. "Luis Figo did it for me at Barcelona and great players have that intuition.

"Lua Lua showed he can do it when he found Olivier Bernard for our sixth against Everton but he needs to pick out that perfect pass when the team's under pressure.

"If he can deliver on a consistent basis then he can be another Craig Bellamy for Newcastle United.

"He needs to understand when to dribble, when to pass and when to do both."

Before he clinched the winner at Pride Park on Saturday, Lua Lua had gone 36 Premiership games without a goal - an embarrassing burden for a player striving to prove his top-flight credentials.

Robson is confident a first league goal for United will allow the former Colchester striker to play with more freedom and realise his full potential within the next 12 months.

"If Lua Lua is going to make a real impact, and I think he will, then he has got to come up with the goods when it matters," added the Magpies' manager.

"When a game is evenly poised, can he go on and get us the goal to win us the match? He did against Derby but can he do it again?

"It was nice to see him make the right decisions against Everton and Derby and it shows that he's learning." So, does that mean he'll play him instead of CC to give him the opportunity to play himself into the 'right' kind of form, or will he keep him sat on his bum for 80 minutes of each game? What do you think, BBS'rs?

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

Answers

A Prize asset, or A Pretty awful one?

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

One for the future for me...although I do seem him coming on ever so slightly, he still has to make some big improvements to his game to become anything near the finished article....passing ability is definitely one of his weaknesses...

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

May not have the passing ability of Shearer but definitely a good asset to have. I still think he should start against Charlton because the lad will work hard and has a better chance of scoring than if we played Cort. Even if Bellamy is back I wouldn't tart him straight away. Bob's usual tactic of 15 mins in the first game would be best for Bellamy.

Lua is, IMO, one who cold become a class Newcastle player and a crowd favourite.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


Isn't this what I've been saying almost word for word? LLL doesn't have the speed of thought to pass the ball so he dribbles around until it's taken off him. The black Ketsbaia.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

Whether he should start instead of cort is a different questions altogether and one i'd say a definite yes to.....cort's form just isn't good enough to warrant a start at the moment and we're desperate for a win...we can't allow him to play his way back to form at the moment...

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


I have to say, Lua x2 is winning me round. I was fairly critical of him earlier in his career, but hab=ving seen him on a number of occasions playing for the Resorves, along with most of his sub appearances for the first team, he is improving. My criticism of a "circus act" is now perhaps a bit harsh but was basedon hi tending to play a midfield/wide right role where he lost the ball all too often, putting us under imediate pressure. However, playing up front, he can cause chaos in opposing defences where losing the ball is less critical to us.

I remember him coming on at Highbury in December and making an immediate impact, his corner finding Andy O'Brien's heed for the first and also laying on the pass to Robert to win us the penalty.

It's a hard call whether to start him - I definitely wouldn't when Shearer and Bellamy are fit. But come this Saturday, with neither likely to be 100%, I'd certainly start him against Charlton. More generally, I'd keep him on the bench to come on as a striker when opposing defences are starting to tire (but for more than his customary 10 mins). Let him make runs out wide to pull defences or simply run at 'em and get chopped doon.

If we don't play him regularly, we could do worse than to loan him out to a 1st or 2nd division team to gain more experience.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


I hear Colchester are looking for some players...

I always like players who react with the crowd, and Luax25 made me smile when he dived in at Derby. I agreed with Dan that unless his game improves he will be another Kets - hard working, runs all day, popular, kisses his shirt, gets the odd crucial goal (thank you for Zagreb, Kets) but ultimately not cutting the mustard.

Guess he has time to improve, and carve out opportunities for himself. Not sure a loan at this stage of his career will improve him sufficiently. I think he has to stick with forcing a place in the 1st team. Excellent bench warmer at the moment.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


Something I forgot to mention in my original posting. Lua x2 is still pretty young (22?). However, he only started playing football relatively recently (age 17??). Prior to that, I believe he was a fairly competent gymnast, clearly evidenced by his goal celebrations on Saturday. When we cought him, YBR said he had to leard "team skills", which I believe he is making good progress at. Undoubtedly, there is a very good athlete there with a lot of skill and self-confidence (both definitely required at the top level). Hopefully, YBR can add the extra bits which could make Lua x2 a star of the future.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

maybe L3 will become our Solsjaer. That player who comes off the bench to score crucial goals and generally make life miserable for the opposition. My main concern is with his passing ability, but it sounds like he is making improvements, and is worth a start this Saturday. I like the idea of him creating havoc for the first 60- 70min, then Bellamy coming on to finish the job after Charltonn is exhausted. Of course, that would be reversed once Bellamy is at full fitness again. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

Was it gymnast screach? i'm certain I read it was ballet that he was into....

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


I believe he was being groomed by the Congo State BAllet

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

I heard ballet too (not the exotic Congo one though). Story goes that Colchester weren't impressed by his poor attitude when he was younger. They told him to take some time out to decide if football was for him. Meantime he excelled at ballet but decided to make a career out of football. 'U's took him back and he impressed Wadsworth who recommended him to YBR. £2.25m later and he's still learning to pass the ball ;-)

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

maybe Wadsworth had a better eye for spotting a nice guy in a tutu than a footballer

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

Most of the time when the lad gets more than 5 minutes on the pitch it`s been when we`re playing badly, we`re losing, there`s a distinct lack of movement in the team, and the opposition are packing the defence. He comes on, gets the ball deep, there`s nobody to pass to, he does a trick and beats one man, finds there are 3 more to beat, loses the ball and gets branded a circus act. This is grossly unfair - bring Shearer (or a young equivalent) on in the same situation and we`d be complaining that he never even got a touch of the ball, and we`d excuse him on the grounds that he never got any sevice. Same applies to Cort or Ameobi. It seems to me that a young lad is being judged and criticised by completely unreasonable expectations because he actually has some talent. If he was a big lumbering physical centre forward we`d excuse him because almost every time he comes on the whole team are playing badly.

I`m not saying he`s a world beater, but it seems to me that when he`s been brought on in a situation where he can reasonably be expected to do something, he`s been pretty good - and certainly more effective than Ameobi and Cort. Kingston Park regulars may be able to post a more informed view (though I`m told even Shearer in his prime was rubbish for Blackburn reserves and in training).

Give the lad a proper chance - judge him after he`s at least had a few starts, not after 50 appearances of 5 minutes each.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


By the way, that was directed more at the general views expressed about L3, not at the views on this thread in particular.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


You can't teach the skills he has, but you can teach people how to pass.

The reserve games I've seen would suggest that he can pass at the right time (although he's annoyed his team mates as well by running too far a few times). The Man U reserve game highlighted this when he ran down the line taking on anyone in his way and pulled the ball back - easy goal for whoever is in the middle - Chopra scored three tap ins this way.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002


Well said ADK. I've always rated the lad and am puzzled at the flak he sometimes takes on here. The moment I first saw him touch the ball at SJP I was impressed by his talent and amazed at his wonderful self- confidence as he made light of the move up through the divisions and treated the opposition's defenders with complete disdain, as if they were a set of traffic cones he could use for dribbling practice. Such talent and self - belief in one so young is to be encouraged and moulded into the Toon great that he can become. I'm concerned at the lack of opportunity he gets on the pitch. Whenever he comes on - he will almost always make things happen.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

Moderation questions? read the FAQ