Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel told star is his ‘biggest challenge’ after Tottenham display

In pictures: Chelsea v Tottenham

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Jamie Redknapp believes Romelu Lukaku is Thomas Tuchel’s “biggest challenge” at Chelsea due to his lack of confidence. The Belgian frontman, who impressed in small phases of the Blues’ 2-0 London derby triumph over Tottenham, is still lacking sharpness in front of goal since being reinstated into the starting XI.

Lukaku has endured a rough ride since sealing his club-record £97.5million switch back to west London from Inter Milan last summer.

The 28-year-old has recorded just five Premier League goals in 16 outings but was hoping for lift off after putting his controversial Sky Italia interview to bed.

Yet against Spurs, Lukaku looked rusty in the penalty box, spurning several goal-scoring opportunities.

Pundit Redknapp insisted that the striker ‘needs to be doing more’ and is adamant his form remains a big issue for Tuchel.

“I think right now, his biggest challenge is probably Lukaku,” Redknapp said.

“I think he’s got to get that right because I watched him today and again, there was some moments where he didn’t have the confidence or belief.

“There were a few occasions where he pinned Sanchez and we thought ‘yeah, that’s what we want from him.’

“He’s certainly a player that’s looking for something, a goal or confidence.”

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His manager though was more than pleased with what he saw from his frontman.

“Very good performance, like a very good team performance,” Tuchel said.

“He was absolutely reliable and put in huge effort.

“Normally we have the chance to make a substitution after 70/75 minutes but he had to play the whole way through.

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“It’s a bit of a story for our team, I have the feeling that we work really hard off the ball and sometimes are not always in full confidence or in a calm state of mind when it comes to the opponent’s box.

“The effort is something we define for us as a benchmark and as a standard.

“He gave everything in terms of work rate and we notice, this can happen in the Premier League, that you arrive a bit tired in front of goal.”

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