Romelu Lukaku has revealed he is not happy with the tactics deployed by Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, as the $131.5 million striker has also revealed his love for Inter Milan.
Now, Thomas Tuchel has had his say.
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Via our partners in Italy at Sky Sport, Lukaku has revealed he is not happy with the situation at Chelsea and especially the recent tactics that Tuchel has implemented.
The interview reportedly took place three weeks ago and was designed to help him reach out to Inter Milan fans after his abrupt exit to Chelsea in the summer.
Lukaku, 28, has been out injured in recent weeks but has scored in each of his last two Premier League games as Chelsea sit second in the table but are eight points behind leaders Manchester City.
Here are some snippets from the interview with Romelu Lukaku:
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Star striker hits out at Tuchel’s tactics
“Physically I am fine. But I’m not happy with the situation at Chelsea,” Romelu Lukaku said.
“Tuchel has chosen to play with another system – I won’t give up, I’ll be professional. I am not happy with the situation but I am professional – and I can’t give up now.”
Wow. We haven’t heard the last of this.
Chelsea boss has his say
Asked about Lukaku’s comments ahead of Chelsea’s huge clash with Liverpool on Sunday (watch live, 11:30am ET on USA Network and online via NBCSports.com), Tuchel was far from happy.
“We don’t like it. It brings noise that we don’t need and it’s not helpful,” Tuchel said. “We don’t want to make more out of it than it actually is. It is easy to take lines out of context, shorten lines, make headlines and then realise later that it is not so bad. We need a calm environment and focus and this does not help.
“I don’t feel him unhappy. I feel the exact opposite. That’s why it’s a surprise. If there is something to discuss it’s behind closed doors. It does not reflect his daily work. But you need to ask him. Everything you say is out there if you are such a big player like Romelu. He is experienced and should know what kind of value it has when he speaks out like this.”
Belgian star dreams of Inter return
In the interview Lukaku also revealed that he pretty much wasn’t ready to leave Inter Milan last summer and that he plans to return to the Italian giants in the future.
“I think everything that happened last summer was not supposed to happen like this… how I left Inter, the way I left the club, how I communicated with Inter fans – this bothers me because it was not the right time,” Lukaku said.
“Now it’s the right time to share my feelings. I have always said that I have Inter in my heart: I know I will return to Inter, I really hope so. I am in love with Italy, this is right moment to talk and let people know what really happened. I really hope from bottom of my heart to return to Inter not at the end of my career, but when I’m still at top level to win more together I want apologize to the Inter fan, timing of my words was wrong: what you did for me will remain forever.”
What is this all about?
These comments will not be helpful for Lukaku, Tuchel, or anybody connected with Chelsea.
Lukaku is likely trying to rally his side to kick on in the second half of the season, and it is fine to not be happy with sitting in second place in the Premier League table.
It is good to be ambitious.
But the line about Tuchel changing his tactics and Lukaku basically saying ‘well, I’ll do the best I can but the manager isn’t playing to my strengths’ isn’t great.
It seems like Lukaku is trying to say that he would prefer to have a strike partner up top with him, someone like Timo Werner or Kai Havertz, instead of being isolated up top.
Tuchel is spot on with his response as players should respect the tactics of their manager, even if they don’t agree with them.
Tuchel responds to criticism from Romelu Lukaku: ‘We don’t like it’ originally appeared on NBCSports.com