Criticized about Lukaku, Tuchel gave a sharp reply

DBasia.news – Former Chelsea and Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte did not hold back his words in criticizing the Blues for not being able to maximize the quality of Romelu Lukaku. This was stated after Chelsea’s 0-1 defeat to Juventus.

Il Bianconeri who played without Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata won 1-0 over Chelsea in the Champions League from Federico Chiesa’s goal. For Chelsea it was the second defeat in a row after losing 0-1 to Manchester City.

In both matches, Romelu Lukaku did not move. The Belgian striker who was purchased for 115 million euros from Inter was isolated up front, and was powerless against opposing defenders.

“I think he (Lukaku) can still do better, especially with his technique. He is already at a very high level, but a player must continue to develop until the day he retires,” Conte told Sky Sports.

“During the game, there are times when Lukaku needs to be turned on, but other than that he is one of the most difficult forwards to play against, as he can do damage in any area of the pitch.

“If you have a centre-forward like that, you need to use him and I don’t think Chelsea have found a way to use him yet.”

“Last season, they didn’t have the right centre-forward, so they rotated positions, whereas Romelu was a real reference point in attack. If they can figure out how to use Lukaku then Chelsea could be the team to beat in the Champions League this season.”

Thomas Tuchel’s Response

Lukaku scored 64 goals in 95 competitive matches with Antonio Conte’s Inter. Conte was able to tell because he analyzed the game and knows the quality that Lukaku has.

Tuchel considered it reasonable for Conte to say this after seeing one Chelsea match, especially with his position as a football pundit.

“He (Conte) was definitely not on television after the Tottenham game,” said Thomas Tuchel, as reported by Chelsea’s official website.

“Of course, if you watch the game against Juventus (Lukaku) isolated, he’s right on that and he’s obviously in the TV studio analyzing this one game, so he’s right, no discussion about that.”

“But it’s not a common thing. If you watch another game, he may not be right. I don’t feel offended. I even saw him (Conte on TV) while I was taking a shower before the game at the hotel.”

Looking at it more deeply, Tuchel thinks Lukaku’s difficulties against Man City and Juventus is understandable if the defenders take care of him. It can happen to any player.

“Juventus kept (Lukaku) isolated. It felt like seven players around him all the time in the box. They did well and they did it in their style. We have to accept it,” added Tuchel.

“This is not a general problem. We need to look at the game individually. Every striker in the world will be isolated if we play very badly in transition, like we did against Man City,” he explained.