CHELSEA REPORT: ‘Failure’ – Chelsea ‘don’t need’ Lukaku in Carabao Cup final, says Merson

 

‘Failure’ – Chelsea ‘don’t need’ Lukaku in Carabao Cup final, says Merson

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel should not start Romelu Lukaku in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool, according to Paul Merson.

Lukaku re-signed for the Blues last summer for a club-record £97.5m fee and has endured a difficult 2021/22 

The Belgium striker hit the ground running, however, scoring four goals in his first four games.

Since then, Lukaku has been in and out of the side. Chelsea looked excellent with Kai Havertz leading the line in Tuesday’s 2-0 win against Lille in the Champions League.

Tuchel’s side face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, and former Arsenal midfielder Merson believes Lukaku should not be in the German head coach’s starting XI.

“Chelsea don’t need Romelu Lukaku to win the Carabao Cup final – and he could end up being a failure at Stamford Bridge

“I watched Lukaku playing against Crystal Palace last weekend – and you can’t touch the ball seven times in a game as a striker.

“If I played for Chelsea against a team like Palace, at 53 years of age, I would touch the ball more than seven times!

“Lukaku doesn’t get involved in the play enough. If the ball is on one side of the pitch, your job as a centre forward is to come over to that side and show up. He doesn’t do that.

“That is a major problem and that’s why he’s not touching the ball. He needs to get more involved in the game.

“Lukaku does well for teams when there’s a lot of grass in front of him to run into. But you don’t get that at Chelsea.

“You kick off at Stamford Bridge and all of a sudden teams are dropping off and putting 10 behind the ball.

“Now he’s out of the team and I can’t see him getting back in against Liverpool at Wembley.

“At times the other day against Lille in the Champions League, when he was on the bench, some of Chelsea’s football was outstanding.

“The movement from Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech was absolutely outstanding.

“I haven’t seen that from Chelsea for a while – and I don’t think Thomas Tuchel will play Lukaku now against Liverpool.