Thomas Tuchel urged everyone not to mock Romelu Lukaku after Chelsea’s record signing set a record for the fewest touches ever in a full Premier League game.
The German admitted Chelsea is a tough club for strikers to succeed as Lukaku threatens to join Andriy Shevchenko and Fernando Torres in the band of expensive underachievers at Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku struck in the semi-final and final of the Club World Cup but the £98 million man has not scored in his last six games against English clubs and only touched the ball seven times in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, and one of those was a kick-off.
The previous record holder was a goalkeeper, Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel, and the Belgian’s anonymous display prompted mockery.
But Tuchel said: “The data is out there and the data speaks a certain language. It is sometimes like this with strikers if they struggle with self-confidence and struggle to get involved against a good defensive side. It is not what we want or what Romelu wants but it is not a time to laugh about him or make jokes about him.”
Lukaku has only scored 10 goals in 28 games since returning to Stamford Bridge from Inter Milan last summer, bringing back memories of previous big buys who were expected to be prolific in the Chelsea attack.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea player ratings
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CRYSTAL PALACE RATINGS: Vicente Guaita – 7. The Palace shot-stopper faced a busy start to the match after having been forced into a terrific save to keep out an effort from distance. Forced off at half time. AP Photo -
Nathaniel Clyne – 6. The 30-year-old made just his second league start this season having been kept out by Joel Ward. He did well at right-back, but will feel disappointed to let Alonso get his cross over to Ziyech at the far post. Getty Images -
Joachim Andersen – 7. A good display by the defender, who kept Chelsea’s frontline quiet for large portions of the game. Getty Images -
Marc Guehi – 7. The former Chelsea man made the move across London in the summer and alongside Andersen did a good job defending against his former side. AFP -
Tyrick Mitchell – 6. A busy game for the Palace left-back, working to limit Ziyech on the wing. He did well for most the game before being caught out by Ziyech for the goal. AFP -
James McArthur – 7. Brought in to replace the ineligible Conor Gallagher, McArthur proved to be an asset in the middle of the park alongside Kouyate. Getty Images -
Cheikhou Kouyate – 6. The Senegal international played his first Premier League minutes in 2022, having been away at the Africa Cup of Nations. Kept himself busy. Getty Images -
Jeffrey Schlupp – 7. Scuppered Kante’s move into Palace’s box before sending a glorious ball to Zaha on the left wing, which tore apart Chelsea’s defence. Saw his own shot fly over the crossbar in the 54th minute. AFP -
Michael Olise – 7. The young Frenchman came close to netting the opener when his strike missed the far post by inches. Sparked a break on the stroke of half time to release Zaha into the box, who couldn’t convert from a tight angle. Booked. Getty Images -
Jordan Ayew – 6. Busy and hardworking, Ayew was guilty of losing possession too often. Getty Images -
Wilfried Zaha – 7. Came close to giving his side a half-time lead but saw his effort bobble wide of the far post. Brushed off several challenges in stoppage time before seeing a shot go narrowly wide again. Getty Images -
Jack Butland (Guaita 46’) – 6. Let off the hook when he parried away Lukaku’s shot into the path of Ziyech, who saw his goal disallowed for offside. AFP -
SUB: Eberechi Eze (Ayew 85’) – N/R. A late substitute for Patrick Vieria’s side. Getty Images -
SUB: Jean-Philippe Mateta (McArthur 90+1) – N/R. Another late change with McArthur seeing out his first 90 minutes since November. Getty Images -
CHELSEA RATINGS: Edouard Mendy – 6. The AFCON winner returned to Premier League action and had very little to do. Getty Images -
Andreas Christensen – 6. After two successful starts in the Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, the Danish centre-back started his first Premier League game since December. Getty Images -
Thiago Silva – 7. The 37-year-old veteran found himself in the right place several times after the restart to cut out Palace. AP Photo -
Antonio Rudiger – 6. The German was denied a goal by a terrific Guaita save. AP Photo -
Malang Sarr – 6. The 23-year-old kept his place in the starting line-up after his side’s league win against Spurs, and despite putting in a brilliant ball to Kante in the first half, he was caught out by Palace’s fast attacks early on. AFP -
Hakim Ziyech – 8. The Moroccan looked to be one of the few influences Chelsea had to get things going. Couldn’t have had it easier than when the ball was parried into his path by Butland, though his goal was disallowed for offside by VAR. Finally got the goal he deserved. PA -
N’Golo Kante – 6. Released through on goal after a brilliant pass by Sarr but Guaita was equal to the shot by the Frenchman. Getty Images -
Jorginho – 5. The Italian came back into the starting line-up and whilst busier in the second half, struggled to have much influence on the game. Reuters -
Kai Havertz – 5. A tough afternoon for the German, who glanced a header over the bar in the final 10 minutes. EPA -
Romelu Lukaku – 5. A grand total of two touches in the opening 45 minutes summed up an anonymous display from the Belgian. Had one shot saved. Getty Images -
Christian Pulisic – 5. The American will rue an early miss when he failed to convert at the far post. Anonymous in the second half. Getty Images -
SUB: Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Jorginho 74’) – N/R. Part of a triple substitution from Thomas Tuchel, which seemed to kick on Chelsea after a disappointing start to the second half. AFP -
SUB: Mateo Kovacic (Kante 74’) – N/R. Played Lukaku in with a beauty of a ball immediately after coming off the bench, ahead of Ziyech’s disallowed goal. AFP -
SUB: Marcos Alonso (Sarr 74’) – N/R. The Spaniard put a good ball across from the wing to the far post, making it easy for Ziyech to volley home. AP Photo
The former Ballon d’Or winner Shevchenko only scored 22 goals in 77 games for Chelsea while Torres, who cost a then record £50 million, took 903 minutes of football to open his account and only ended up with 20 goals in 110 Premier League matches.
“There is even a history of strikers struggling at Chelsea so it is not the easiest place in the world for strikers, I don’t know exactly why,” Tuchel said.
He said Chelsea have had to adjust after the loss of his first-choice wing-backs, Reece James and Ben Chilwell, to injury, and believes Lukaku has not had enough service recently.
“We have many games where we created many chances and struggled a bit in the conversion,” he added. “Now we struggle to create too many big chances for our strikers.”
Chelsea could welcome back one of their creators on Tuesday, with Mason Mount potentially on the bench against Lille. The England international could then be in contention for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool but Callum Hudson-Odoi is likely to miss the clash with the French champions.
However, Tuchel ignored talk of the Wembley clash with Liverpool, adding: “Now is the moment to be super focused on every match and don’t worry about the big picture.”
Lille are labouring in 11th place in Ligue 1 and losing manager Christophe Galtier and key players Mike Maignan, Boubakary Soumare and Jonathan Ikone.
But Tuchel, whose Paris Saint-Germain team were champions in France the previous season, said: “They were very competitive when I was in Paris. The quality of the coach was exceptional and you could tell they had the quality to fight high up the table but then they lost players and the coach in the summer so there has been a huge change.”
A meeting with French opposition is particularly meaningful for Edouard Mendy. Born in France, the Senegal goalkeeper has already won the African Cup of Nations and the Club World Cup this month.
“A lot of good things happened the last days and weeks,” he said. Formerly of Cherbourg, he and N’Golo Kante first met in the French lower leagues and became Champions League winners together. “It is like a dream to find another player in the same club who played in the same division as you,” he said. “It is a beautiful thing to find him here.”
