Romelu Lukaku. That’s Chelsea’s number 1 problem right now, at least when it comes to British media. In reality, the Blues should be more concerned if they fail to sign their three starting defensive back come May, but the Belgian striker is a concern too. He scored 47 league goals in two seasons at Inter, but he really struggled since coming back for the second time to London. In Saturday’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, Lukaku had the fewest touches of the ball – seven – ever recorded for a player on the pitch for at least 90 minutes in a Premier League game since such data began to be collected in full in the 2003-04 season. Against Lille in the Champions League, he was an unused substitute. Chelsea’s Champions League win mitigates concerning Lukaku-Tuchel feudCoach Thomas Tuchel explained that at the moment, every question at the press conference is about Romelu and his seven touches and that he wanted to take him ‘out of the fire’ for the moment. And the fans seemed to like his omission from the squad, because they hurried to the social media after the win to advocate for Kai Havertz to start ahead of Lukaku in the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool. TV Pundits all have their opinion about Romelu and his form, and two of them are actually questioning his role in the team and Tuchel’s tactics. “Lukaku fit perfectly into Conte’s counter-attacking style at Inter, because there were lots of spaces, he had this physical strength and pace that allowed him to flatten the defenders in Serie A. However, Chelsea play this very different type of football with lots of short passes and Lukaku doesn’t have the same spaces to move in. He also finds that in England the defenders have a similar physicality to him and hold out more. Lukaku had this power and space to run at defenders and turn the game around” said Fabio Capello to Sky Sport Italia.Drogba: ‘I hope Lukaku learned from me’Another legend, former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has gone even further and questioned the decision to by Lukaku in the first place, when Chelsea’s tactics are not suitable to the Belgian forward. “Right from the start I raised a question to myself, would he fit into this team? As a coach when you go and get Lukaku, you will have to make him adapt to how you play, or you change your way to suit him. I didn’t think that would happen. They need to move forward on that but it’s a tough one to read. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know how that happens in 90 minutes. But what’s the solution? The solution is for him to find a solution to make sure he can adapt to the way they play. They like to press, to be active and to change the front three. He likes to stay in the middle so it makes it very difficult for him to adapt to the situation. But again, why did you go and get him?” Henry told CBS. (2.85) ATLETICO M. (2.90) MANCHESTER UNITED (3.00)Former Blues midfielder Joe Cole was concentrated more on the player himself, and urged him to forget Inter and focus on becoming a successful heir to great Didier Drogba. “I think with Romelu, it is all between his ears. He’s in the situation he’s in, he can’t hanker about being back in Italy. He has got the chance here to be Chelsea’s No 9, he’s got the chance to walk in the shoes of Didier Drogba, his hero, the great No 9s we have seen at this club. He needs to put it all to bed, ignore all the noise and concentrate on his game. We have seen him score all types of goals, he is the complete striker when he is right. He needs to make sure he is in the right position every single time and if the ball doesn’t come, do it again and do it again and it will eventually get there” Cole said on BT Sport.
