Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel blamed for the poor form of two first-team stars

Thomas Tuchel discusses recent form of Romelu Lukaku ahead of Lille match

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Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel’s style of play is to blame for the poor form shown by two of the club’s star strikers, according to former Tottenham star Darren Bent. Chelsea’s record signing Romelu Lukaku has struggled to live up to his billing since his £97.5milllion arrival from Inter Milan last summer.

Lukaku has scored just five Premier League goals in 17 top-flight appearances this term.

The Belgian has missed matches through injury, Covid and was also left out for one game following an interview with Sky Italia where he appeared to hit out at Tuchel.

Lukaku had just seven touches in the entirety of Saturday’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace.

Meanwhile, Timo Werner has struggled for game time this season following a poor first campaign in west London.

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The German has just one league goal to his name, having only started six matches.

But Bent believes both Werner and Lukaku are suffering from Tuchel’s style of play, claiming the Chelsea boss does not play to either of their strengths.

Bent said on talkSPORT: “[Lukaku] could do maybe a little bit more in the game, try and get a few more touches, go and hunt the ball down just to keep himself involved, little touches here and there.

“I think first and foremost for Chelsea and the players that they’ve got, you’ve got to play to his strengths.

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“There is no point having someone there whose strength is their pace, their power, obviously his heading ability when you cross the ball into the box, and do none of them things.

“How many times did they just put the ball in behind?

“You look at the two centre-forwards that they’ve bought recently, Timo Werner and Lukaku.

“Their biggest attributes are their pace – if you’re not going to play that way, then why sign these players?

“Obviously [Lukaku] was seen as the missing part of the jigsaw because Werner missed all those chances last season.

“If you’re going to have someone like Lukaku you would have looked at his career and thought ‘right, what are his biggest attributes? His power and strength and his pace’.

“Use them, don’t keep playing to his feet because that’s not his game.”

Lukaku is set to feature for Chelsea in Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg clash against Lille.

When asked about the striker’s performance at Crystal Palace during his pre-match press conference, Tuchel insisted now was not the time to mock him.

“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,” Tuchel said.

“He’s in the spotlight but we will protect him.”

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