Pundits round on Tuchel as Lukaku no-show sees heat rise on ‘huge problem’ at Chelsea

The absence of Romelu Lukaku for Chelsea in their Champions League win over Lille saw the heat rise over their decision to sign him in the summer.

The Blues came into this season with depth in all areas of the squad. They therefore received backing to go on a Premier League title charge with Liverpool and Manchester City.

However, boss Thomas Tuchel then added Belgium international striker Lukaku from Inter. Tuchel saw the centre-forward as the player to fill the only gap in his team. Chelsea subsequently paid a club-record £97.5million to sign him.

Despite a strong start in the Premier League, he has faced struggles of late. Lukaku controversially claimed in December that Tuchel’s tactics were to blame and the manager subsequently dropped the striker.

However, clear-the-air talks between the pair have not led to a consistent improvement in form. Lukaku scored two of Chelsea’s three goals in their triumphant Club World Cup campaign recently. Still, he then only had seven touches of the ball against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

On Tuesday, meanwhile, he stayed on the bench, with Kai Havertz leading the line instead and scoring the opening goal. Speaking to BT Sport the match, Joe Cole lauded Havertz’s “conviction” and “striker’s mentality” in the No. 9 role.

Rio Ferdinand then claimed it would be a “big problem” if Havertz really is settling into his current position.

Cole added: “It’s a huge problem, think about his form at the end of last season when he was able to drop off and runners go and behind him, his best position is a No.9, but that’s bad for Lukaku.

“He reminds me of a [Roberto] Firmino type player, someone that knits it all together, he would have been a nightmare to mark tonight.”

Tuchel insisted after the