Tuchel Gives Blunt Answer To Why Lukaku Was So Poor vs Palace, Refuses To Defend The Striker

“No, no, no, it’s not about the system,” Thomas Tuchel said when asked about Romelu Lukaku’s struggles against Crystal Palace.

“Well it is what it is, but it is not a change of system. It is the same attacking structure. For him, it changes nothing.”

It’s telling that Tuchel no longer protects Lukaku from criticism here. It’s really not about the system: a striker has to be proactive, run into spaces, offer himself to teammates. Romelu just doesn’t do that this season at Chelsea.

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Lukaku had just seven touches in 90 minutes against Palace, the fewest any Premier League player who had played the entirety of the game has made since at least the 2003/04 season.

In December, Lukaku made headlines as he admitted that Tuchel ‘chose to play with another system’, one that the forward thinks doesn’t suit him.