Tuchel has to give Lukaku some love
FOR all Romelu Lukaku’s issues
this season, the Liverpool dressing room at Wembley will be a happier place if he’s left out of Chelsea’s line-up.
Kai Havertz is a talented player but I’d be amazed if Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip would rather play against Lukaku than him. They’ll know the Belgian can knock you about physically and hurt you with his pace in behind. The midfielders won’t want to see him either because they’ll 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’s 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 Crystal Palace, an unwanted Premier League record.
It’s 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 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.
It’s something I am sure Tuchel is shrewd enough to consider, even as a temporary measure.
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.