Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has said Romelu Lukaku's current struggles in front of goal is due to the relentless schedule of playing regularly for club and country.
The Belgium forward rejoined Chelsea from Inter Milan in August for a club-record fee of £97.5 million ($134.7m) in the summer.
Lukaku, 28, hit the ground running in his second spell at the Premier League club, grabbing four goals in as many games but has not found the net since scoring against Zenit St Petsersburg on September14.
Tuchel, speaking ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match against Swedish side Malmo in London, insists his loss of form can be put squarely down to playing too often with the national team.
“In this very moment I feel Romelu is a bit overplayed, I think he played too many competitions over the summer, too many competitions with the national team,” said the German manager. “And now he has played the Nations League [Belgium finished fourth at the finals earlier this month].
“He is a fantastic athlete and such a competitive guy that he digs in deep, he wants to win these things and he never takes it easy and judges games. He wants to be out there and win.
“So I know how much he wanted to have a good outcome for Belgium in the Euros, and the Nations League meant a lot to him too.
“It was a huge match for him personally, it means a lot to him to play for his country. So he takes it really seriously. And if it doesn’t go well he always takes it on his shoulders.
“For me he is overplayed a little bit. And this is the key point. Once he finds his rhythm he will find things a bit easier. But it’s difficult to judge whether he needs a break or he needs to keep playing.”
Brentford 0 Chelsea 1: player ratings
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BRENTFORD RATINGS: David Raya 6 - Couldn’t do much about Chelsea’s opener as Chilwell rifled the ball into the top corner. Looked confident otherwise. Reuters -
Mathias Jorgensen 7 - Looked comfortable in the first half and didn’t have much to do in the second as Brentford took total control. Getty -
Pontus Jansson 7 - Didn’t look phased by the physical against Romelu Lukaku, managing to clear the danger while the Belgian frontman had his back to goal. The centre-back will be wondering how he didn’t score with his volley failing to get past Mendy. AFP -
Ethan Pinnock 8 - A danger from set-pieces with the centre-back able to flick on into space, coming close to assisting a goal for Toney. Unplayable in the air at times. AFP -
Sergi Canos 7 - Delivered good crosses into the box that almost led to a goal, but picked up a silly booking for overreacting to a refereeing decision. PA -
Rico Henry 7 - Worked hard up the flank and got his head to a crucial ball that was close to being converted from a Chelsea cross. AP -
Mathias Jensen 7 - Looked tidy when dribbling and delivered the ball into some good areas. Unlucky not to get an assist with Ivan Toney who should have looked to work the goalkeeper from a dangerous area. PA -
Christian Norgaard 7 - A clever cushioned header into the path of Mbeumo almost saw Brentford take the lead, but Mbeumo could only hit the post from the Danish star’s intelligent play. Reuters -
Frank Onyeka 6 - Battled well in midfield and came back strong after looking like he was destined to be substituted with a head injury. AFP -
Bryan Mbeumo 7 - The tricky forward was a problem upfront but the cutting edge wasn’t there on the night, striking the post twice from good opportunities. Reuters -
Ivan Toney 6 - Strong in the air when Brentford went forward aerially but the newly-promoted side didn’t do it enough. Toney battled aggressively throughout the game and was unlucky not to be awarded a free kick on multiple occasions. Reuters -
SUVS: Marcus Forss (Onyeka 67) 6 - Looked to get forward and almost punished Havertz for failing to clear his lines. Reuters -
Saman Ghoddos (Canos 73) - Wasteful. Brentford’s best chance of the game was completely fluffed by Ghoddos. Reuters -
CHELSEA RATINGS: Edouard Mendy 10 - That could be the best goalkeeping performance of the season as the Chelsea goalkeeper produced three saves from the top drawer to secure all three points for the Blues. A world-class showing. AFP -
Malang Sarr 7 - Sarr hasn’t featured much in Thomas Tuchel’s side but you wouldn’t have known that. Despite a few moments of lost concentration, the young defender was called on a lot and dealt with the danger more often than not. AFP -
Andreas Christensen 7 - The 25-year-old was the most experienced player in the Chelsea back three and showed it with a positive performance against a dangerous Brentford side. Getty -
Trevoh Chalobah 7 - A direct ball led to the Blues best chance of the half and that summed up a confident display from the young defender. Enjoyed a physical battle against Ivan Toney. AFP -
Cesar Azpilicueta 6 - Worked hard on the right flank and didn’t allow too much down his side. AP -
Ben Chilwell 7 - Yet another goal for Ben Chilwell who blasted the ball past David Raya on the stroke of halftime. Getty -
Mateo Kovacic 6 - The Croatian star was patient and kept the play ticking in midfield, rarely putting a pass wrong before being withdrawn. PA -
N’golo Kante 7 - Kante’s movement going forward caused trouble for the opposition as the France international found space on the right flank, and it was a similar play that led to Chelsea’s opening goal. Getty -
Ruben Loftus-Cheek 7 - Chelsea’s best player of the first half with the midfielder driving at the Brentford defence and winning a number of free-kicks. Getty -
Timo Werner 6 - Tried to get things moving in the right direction but has to do better with his effort from outside the box that went high and wide of the goal. AP -
Romelu Lukaku 6 - Had the ball in the net during the first half but was offside from Timo Werner’s pass. Chelsea’s front two have some things to work on as they look to develop chemistry in future games. Reuters -
SUBS: AMason Mount (Kovacic 65) 6 - Helped Chelsea play quicker in the middle of the park but spent most of the game helping out the defence. Getty -
Kai Havertz (Lukaku 77) - On for Lukaku but didn’t do much when introduced. Getty -
Reece James (Azpilicueta 87) - On to help stop the flow of attacks from the Bees. Getty
Tuchel also says Lukaku is not alone in his Champions League-winning squad. “It’s the same for some other players too, Mason [Mount] and Jorgi [Jorginho, who play for England and Italy, respectively].
“They have a lot of weight to carry for their countries. They take it and they love it, they are competitors.
“But if you play a thousand matches a year it can feel a bit heavy, although they love the game. They are such good guys but this is what I feel just between the lines.”
Chelsea, the defending European champions, are second in Group H of the Champions League after two games following defeat to Juventus last month.
They remain top of the Premier League after eight matches but Tuchel admitted their form had dipped, with one major reason being the quantity of games for top players.
“It is important that we are not too critical of ourselves,” he said. “You have hard moments, you fight through them and be a team nobody likes to play against.
“It isn’t easy for any team in the Premier League to win any game, so maybe this is normal and we have to embrace the situation that is difficult at the moment. We are finding our ways to win the games at the moment.
“There is still room to improve and we lack form and freshness, a bit of joy, and for me a key reason is not the mentality or attitude.
“If you think about it, if you travel through time zones, in a hotel, then you change the hotel, one day at home, see family, then back to the hotel, play at Brentford, then it’s Champions League, it can be tiring … this is simply too much football in too many competitions.”
