Tuchel needs to give Lukaku a bit of love

FOR all Romelu Lukaku’s issues this season, the Liverpool dressing room at Wembley will be a happier place if he is left out of Chelsea’s line-up. Kai Havertz is a talented player but I would be amazed if Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip would rather play against Lukaku than him. They will know the Belgian can knock you about physically and hurt you with his pace in behind. The midfielders will not want to see him either because they will have to screen him.

Lukaku’s 10 goals in 28 games this season is below expectations but he still has greater capabilities than any other Chelsea forward.

Chelsea thought they were buying a one goal-in-two striker when they paid Inter nearly £97million for his signature. It made sense to nearly everyone, myself included, because he was quick, strong and full of confidence having won Serie A.

The first few games echoed the sentiment, with Lukaku making Chelsea look stronger. But it has been downhill since then with the infamous Sky Italia interview and six games without a goal in domestic football, culminating in only having seven touches against Palace, an unwanted Premier League record.

It is not time for Chelsea to appoint blame but look for solutions. Some players you kick up the backside, others need an arm around the shoulder.

What you feel about Lukaku is that he responds better when he feels loved rather than criticised. I had a similar situation as a player at Fulham. Bobby Zamora needed encouragement but the manager Martin Jol decided to push him. It ended in a fall-out and Zamora leaving the club.

We are a long way from that scenario with Lukaku but Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel doesn’t strike me as the type to do tea and sympathy. He seems to expect the players to look after themselves in that regard.

If Tuchel won’t spend time pacifying Lukaku, I think he has the option of changing his position to get him back in the groove. I have seen Lukaku many times for Belgium and even at Everton playing wide on the right and cutting inside to cause havoc. He was signed primarily as a No9 but Lukaku is capable of being effective elsewhere.

The Euro 2020 win against Denmark springs to mind where he ended up on the outside of the false nine, Kevin De Bruyne. He also tore Brazil apart from that position in the last World Cup.

It is something I am sure Tuchel is shrewd enough to consider, even as a temporary measure. He has alternatives down the middle like Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Hakem Ziyech or Timo Werner.

Though Lukaku has not been at his best at centre-forward, one has to remember that he has been hindered by not having wing-backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell fit to supply the crosses.

As the club’s record signing, it is natural Lukaku’s dip in form is news but I don’t think it is the main reason for Chelsea falling away in the title race. For me that was the disruptions they had in midfield when they missed N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic.

Lukaku’s interview indicating he was unhappy didn’t help. But I don’t think we will be viewing him in 12 months time as another Chelsea strike failure.

He has only been there half a season and he has reached double figures. I don’t adhere to the view Chelsea should be looking elsewhere. While Tuchel might not be the perfect manager for someone with Lukaku’s make-up, he is an intelligent football man and can find ways to help him.

The motivation of playing in a cup final at Wembley will be huge and if he starts it will be an early psychological strike against Liverpool. The rest is then up to the player, even if Liverpool are slight favourites

in my book.