Lukaku equal to Big Dunc
...but Kop boss says it’s a myth
JURGEN KLOPP believes player power is a myth.
The Liverpool manager says players influencing club owners to sack a manager does not happen.
The Reds face Leicester tonight in the Foxes’ first game since Claudio Ranieri was axed.
Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and striker Jamie Vardy deny players put pressure on the owners to sack their boss just nine months after he guided them to the Premier League title.
Klopp, below, said: “Players are not more powerful. We were more in the past. It depends on the board. If there is a direct way to the board, if the owners sit with the players and ask, ‘How are you?’ and they say, ‘Not too good’ and it is, ‘Why?’ – ‘because of the manager’. But I’ve never had this situation. There is never a direct line to the owner. As long as the players talk together there is no problem. If they start talking about you? For this you need an ear on the other side.
“The players need to be powerful but not in sacking managers. They never did it. It’s not like the Leicester players did it. If someone asked, they gave an answer.”
Liverpool players held a team meeting without Klopp before the recent win over Spurs after a dire run that ended their title hopes.
But Klopp said it was not a mutiny. He said: “I knew they were meeting. As a player I had more without the manager in these sorts of times than with. I don’t have a second of doubt about my relationship with the team.” ROMELU LUKAKU says he was not shy about letting assistant coach Duncan Ferguson know his Premier League goals tally for Everton was under threat.
So there was something fitting in Lukaku drawing level on 60 goals with the sort of bullocking run and bundled finish of which his Scottish mentor would have been proud.
Now Lukaku could become a club legend. To do that he would have to commit his future to Everton.
It is possible Lukaku could chase down Graeme Sharp who, with 111 league strikes, sits behind only Dixie Dean, out on his own with 349.
“I’ve been speaking to Duncan and winding him up a little, but he knows it’s for a good cause,” said Lukaku.
“He wants me to help the team to win and I want to win and score as many goals as I can.
“And I’m not done yet. I’m 23 and there’s a lot to improve on.”
Ferguson, who took another 110 games to reach the landmark,
EVERTON SUNDERLAND
said recently that Lukaku had it all bar a little weakness in his heading ability.
Lukaku agreed, adding: “You have to get better day after day and there is always someone out there who has something that you don’t.
“That’s the challenge. But I know if I do my best I can be dangerous in any game.”
It was a tribute to another decent Everton performance – they are unbeaten in nine in the league – that Lukaku was not the standout.
Ross Barkley and Tom Davies were again excellent, Idrissa Gueye – on the end of a flowing move for the opener – likewise and Morgan Schneiderlin eclipsed all with a consummate display at the base of midfield.
Sunderland boss David Moyes said: “I believe we’ll get a good run somewhere along the line. I don’t think it’s too late.”