Right now, Romelu Lukaku is learning, the hard way, that if you want to dish it out, you better be able to take it. Big Rom infamously called out manager Thomas Tuchel’s tactics last month, and made it clear that we wished to return to Inter Milan.
He has since apologized, and his speaking out against his own current club to the media saw him fined. Today, following a 1-0 loss at Manchester City that effectively ended Chelsea’s title hopes, Tuchel singled out Lukaku as a player who should have done more.
“We had eight or nine offensive transitions, but had zero touches in the box,” Tuchel told BT Sport. “That was a big problem today, the performance of our front players — a lack of position, timing and composure.
“We lost too many balls too easily. Romelu Lukaku sometimes needs to do the service, he is included in this, he had many ball losses in very promising circumstances, he had a huge chance.
“Of course we want to serve him, but he is part of the team, and the performance up front, we can do much better.
“We didn’t have enough chances — we could have much more if we played with better timing and precision.”
Lukaku is the club’s record signing, he moved over for 97.5m GBP late this past summer, but he’s produced only five goals in league play. Chelsea have received very poor ROI on their all-time most expensive player, as the big Belgian has scored just once in 2022 thus far.
That goal came against Chesterfield Town, a side from the fifth tier of English football, in the FA Cup last week.
Lukaku registered just 21 touches today in a match that saw the Blues fall 13 points behind the Sky Blues.
It was the 12th win on the spin in the league for City, who are basically champions-elect at this point, with 16 matches left to play.
In other words, bye Felicia to Chelsea, and anyone else in the league title race.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.