Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel believes that it is not the time to laugh about Romelu Lukaku after the striker just managed seven touches against Crystal Palace. Lukaku set the unwanted record of the least touched by a player since statistics were recorded by Opta in the 2003-04 season. To add insult to injury one of those touches was from kickoff at the start of the game.
“What can I do? I don’t know. We have to deal with it,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said about Romelu Lukaku. “The data is out there and the data speaks a certain language. He was not involved in our game, it’s sometimes like this with strikers. If they struggle a bit with self-confidence, to find the space, and to get involved against a good defensive side, it can be like this. It’s not what we want or Romelu wants, but it’s also not the time to laugh about him and make jokes about him. He’s in the spotlight but we will protect him.”
“There is a history of strikers struggling a little bit at Chelsea so it may not be the easiest place in the world for strikers. I don’t know why it’s like this,” he added. “In my opinion, Chelsea is a team considered a strong defensive team, a physical team, that has a certain attitude when in competitive football. We demand a lot of our strikers in terms of defending. We want to be a physical, hard-working group that wants to play a physical game and a skillful game. That maybe plays a part.”
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