Thomas Tuchel sought advice from Chelsea’s senior players before deciding to leave Romelu Lukaku out from the squad to face Liverpool.
The Chelsea manager will hold talks with the player on Monday with a view to healing the wounds created by Lukaku’s controversial and unauthorized interview with Sky Sport in which he confessed to being unhappy under Tuchel.
The outcome of the meeting will determine whether Lukaku is recalled for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash against Tottenham, in a game that will see Antonio Conte return to Chelsea.
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And speaking after the draw with Liverpool, Tuchel said he confided in the senior members of his team – including Cesar Azpilicueta – before deciding to axe Lukaku.
‘I don’t take decisions in my office just circulating around my thoughts, I take decisions for the team and I have players to listen to, hear their opinion and what they think and then I take my decisions once I hear them out,’ said Tuchel.
‘It’s not a personal thing for me to decide because of my belief, we have a squad to protect with strong beliefs and strong values.
‘It’s not Chelsea-like, but it’s also not the worst thing in the world. It’s not the first time an interview out their causes some noise nobody needs. But we can handle it. I don’t feel personally attacked.
Tuchel conceded that the second part of the interview, which emerged on Friday, pushed him into not including Lukaku on Sunday.
But the German coach is adamant the 28-year-old can come back from the fall-out.
‘There were new statements and it got too big, too much noise and we lost totally the focus of the match,’ said Tuchel.
‘We wanted to protect Romelu from a rash decision because we need to speak with him, read the full interview and stay calm and not lose our heads.
‘It was simply a decision to protect the match like this. It was too much noise. This was clear he will not be in the squad.
‘But he’s our player, he will stay our player, we will always protect our player and we will.
‘I cannot tell you right now (if he can be available on Wednesday) because we need to talk and understand the situation more and on we go.’
