Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says the focus on striker Romelu Lukaku is “sometimes not fair”.
The Chelsea boss accepted that players who command a large transfer fee will face scrutiny, but emphasised there are no hard feelings between himself and Lukaku, who has struggled for form in recent weeks.
“I know he is an important player,” Tuchel said
of Lukaku. “If you pay a lot of money these days for one single player, there’s a lot of focus on the player.
“If you allow yourself to zoom a little bit out, he played a lot of matches from the start for us, consecutive matches.”
After scoring on his second Premier League debut for the club against Arsenal, Lukaku went on to play in Chelsea’s next seven league fixtures before suffering a sprain. The Belgian has scored 10 times in 28 appearances in all competitions so far this season.
Tuchel went on to compare Lukaku’s struggles with Chelsea vice-captain Jorginho.
“We have, maybe a little bit, the same situation for example with Jorginho, who is one of our captains and did not play from the beginning lately because we feel he is a little mentally tired.
“But the focus is hugely on Romelu which I can understand. But the situation is more or less the same like for Jorginho and that sometimes is not fair and sometimes it’s a bit too much. Both of them understand themselves as team players.
Tuchel downplayed any notion of there being a rift between himself or Lukaku.
“The things inside (the club) are very clear and the decisions are made clear. The players accept (them) and once you play for Chelsea, you accept that the team goes first. That is why there are no hard feelings, not from Romelu, not from me and not from anybody else.”
A return for Reece James?
Defender Reece James has been an impactful player for Chelsea this season, having scored five times and provided six assists in all competitions. The 22-year-old suffered a hamstring injury in December though which has since kept him on the sidelines.
However, Tuchel did not rule out the possibility of James returning for the Carabao Cup final to face Liverpool.
“He looked brilliant in the last two training sessions. Let’s wait another session and let’s see if I am crazy enough to just put him on the pitch or if the reasonable side of me wins in the end,” Tuchel said.
“There is still two days to go and then we will take the decision.”
Tuchel: Kepa ‘deserves’ cup final start
Thomas Tuchel says Kepa Arrizabalaga “absolutely deserves” to start the Carabao Cup final – but pledged to leave sentiment out of the decision.
Kepa has starred when called upon by the Blues this term, especially in the Club World Cup semi-final before Edouard Mendy, Chelsea’s number one goalkeeper, returned from Senegal duty to take the gloves for the final.
Kepa has played in every Carabao Cup round so far this term, but Blues boss Tuchel still admitted the selection decision will prove his most testing.
“This is very easy to say: Kepa absolutely deserves to play and I also cannot get sentimental about it,” said Tuchel.
“I have to do what in the end is in my opinion the very best solution for the team.
“I know that this position is a very sensitive position. If Kepa was a player in the other 10 positions we would not have these discussions, we would just be full of praise, and he would feel that praise in minutes on the pitch.
“So now he is in this one position where you don’t make a lot of changes.
“But still he would absolutely deserve it and at the same time I will not be sentimental about the position.”
Kepa could complete his Stamford Bridge redemption by helping steer the Blues to League Cup victory on Sunday, after his 2019 substitution mix-up.
The former Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper refused to be replaced by Willy Caballero ahead of a penalty shootout at Wembley against Manchester City.
Maurizio Sarri thought Kepa was injured but the Blues’ starting goalkeeper was trying to signal to the bench that he simply had cramp.
That miscommunication saw Wembley play host to fraught scenes of Kepa gesticulating to the bench, Caballero stripped off and ready to come on – and even Sarri storming off towards the tunnel.
The Blues went on to lose that shootout 4-3 and some damage doubtless lingered as a result of Kepa staying on the field.
The highly-respected keeper has steadily rebuilt his Chelsea standing since then, however, pressing through a difficult spell under Frank Lampard to take a more integral role under Tuchel.
“We will take the decision late; because there’s a reason why people ask who will start,” said Tuchel.
“In the last competition it was very short, Kepa played in the Club World Cup, Kepa played the semi-final and got us to the final.
“And then we took the decision for Edou coming back from the Africa Cup of Nations, and then it’s a pretty similar situation now.
“So this will be the very last decision we will take after training, like always.
“Because there’s no need to take the decision now when we have one more training ahead.
“Kepa did fantastic in the period where we had to be without Edou, and so it’s an uncomfortable and very comfortable situation at the same time.”
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