Lukaku set a tragic record against Palace. Does the Belgian fit Chelsea’s style at all?

When Chelsea shelled out nearly £100m for Lukaku, they probably expected a bit more. 5 league goals in 17 games is just not enough. And that the performances of the most expensive loan signing in the club’s history suggest improvement is impossible to say. Does Lukaku fit Chelsea’s style at all, or was his arrival a mistake?

Last weekend, Chelsea enjoyed triumph at the Club World Cup, but in the Premier League, Thomas Tuchel’s team are not brimming with the best form. Even on Saturday, it almost turned into a loss of points, but Ziyech fired a last-minute winner at Selhurst Park.

Three points is three points, but the Blues have a few reasons to worry. The performances are nowhere near as convincing as they were at the start of the season and Lukaku is still struggling to get back to the form of last season that saw the London outfit buy him.

While he scored in both games at the Club World Cup, he hasn’t carried that form into the league. Against Crystal Palace he only made 7 contacts with the ball, a negative league record since the 2003/04 season when the data was counted.

Of these, 1 touch was scored on the kick-off and 2 resulted in a loss of the ball. Although strikers are not expected to have the ball on their feet often, only 7 touches is simply not enough.

In his defense, he didn’t get too many passes from his teammates. The long term absence of Chilwell and James, who are capable of supporting the attack brilliantly and supplying the penalty area with accurate centres, doesn’t help either.

But lately, more and more fans and football experts have been asking, does Lukaku fit at all into Tuchel’s Chelsea style here.

He shone at Inter Milan under Conte – scoring 64 goals in 95 games. This was mainly due to the 3-5-2 formation he thrived in, and the partnership with Lautaro Martínez that benefited both strikers.

Conte’s Nerazzurri also relied more often on quick and direct transitions into attack, and Lukaku was often given the ball on the run as a result. In contrast, Chelsea under Tuchel struggled to hold onto the ball more.

Lukaku is so often forced to play with his back to goal, holding the ball up and getting his teammates into the game, which is not a style that suits him. In fact, in a recent interview for which he received a lot of criticism, he himself complained about Tuchel’s style.

Thomas Tuchel, however, does not plan to adjust his style because of one player: “He can be a key player and we want him to be a key player, but this would be the wrong approach.”

“We will do everything we can to help him, but we can’t adapt everything to one player. This applies to everyone, it works like that at Chelsea – every player has to adapt to the team.”

In a similar vein, former Italy striker Antonio Cassano commented, “ Chelsea tried to adapt to Lukaku, but it should be the other way around, Lukaku should change his style to fit into the team. But I’m not sure he has the qualities Tuchel requires.”

One thing is for sure, the Romelu Lukaku and Chelsea connection is not working at the moment. And that’s not good for either side. The striker position at Chelsea has been joked to be cursed for many years now, and unless something changes, Lukaku may fail at Stamford Bridge like many of his predecessors.

Source: The Sun, Daily Mail