Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has sent a pointed message to Romelu Lukaku after the player had just seven touches of the ball in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
The west Londoners, who were playing their first Premier League game in nearly a month after their Club World Cup exploits, gave an often lethargic display and had to wait until the 89th minute to get a winner through Hakim Ziyech.
Incredibly, Lukaku had just two touches of the ball in the first half – one of which was from kick-off – and only managed another five in the second half despite the Blues pressing for a winner.
Tuchel went with a different formation against Palace, ditching his usual back three to play a 4-1-4-1, but he rejected suggestions his tactics hampered Lukaku and seemed to suggest there was only one person to blame for his poor display.
Asked by beIN SPORTS about Lukaku only having seven touches in the game, and whether the formation was to blame, Tuchel shrugged his shoulders and replied: ‘No. No, it’s not about system.’
When asked to elaborate on Lukaku’s display, Tuchel continued: ‘Well it is what it is. But it is for him no change of system because it’s the same attacking structure.
‘We always attack in a 4-1, it’s just for the build-up sometimes we build-up in a 3-2 and sometimes in a 4-1. For him it changed nothing.’
Asked why Lukaku struggled in his post-match press conference, Tuchel said: ‘I’m not so sure if I have a good answer for your question, I don’t know. Obviously he was not involved and could not make a point today. I’m not sure if it says so much about us in general.’
The result maintains Chelsea’s position in third position and stops them getting sucked into the top-four battle and Tuchel was pleased with the team after a difficult and draining few weeks.
Asked what the manner of the performance told him, Tuchel replied: ‘That we struggled and I did not over expect from us today performance-wise because I know where we come from.
‘We had two extra times to play in the FA Cup and Club World Cup, we have a bit of jet lag, we have a difference of temperature which his huge – everybody feels a bit of cold, feels tired.
‘We play against a strong home team here at Crystal Palace, so I did not over expect.
atOptions = { ‘key’ : ‘677bec88d5359434973f045e310a9066’, ‘format’ : ‘iframe’, ‘height’ : 250, ‘width’ : 300, ‘params’ : {} }; document.write(‘
‘I think we were solid. Especially defensively we were very disciplined, but of course we can play better. But we got the three points and this is very, very important for us.’
