Chelsea could really use Romelu Lukaku to make a point

Reports of Romelu Lukaku’s demise at Chelsea have been greatly exaggerated. It’s pretty much the same rut people were stuck in when his signing was still a rumor. He’s too slow. He’s just a target man. He can’t play well without counters or being fed the ball on a silver platter.

Most of those notions faded away when he was actually playing for Chelsea. But abscense makes people forget. Look no further than how Marcos Alonso is talked about at the moment despite having a fantastic start to the season prior to Ben Chilwell finding form. Since Lukaku has been out, these ideas have all returned about him. Chelsea, they will say, now play more fluidly and have a better attack without Lukaku.

They won’t note that Lukaku was playing when Chelsea was facing big team after big team. They won’t note that Lukaku was injured during Chelsea’s easiest run of the season, which just so happens to be when the Blues started scoring for fun. They also won’t mention that a large proportion of these goals haven’t come from players filling in for Lukaku, but from players much deeper on the pitch.

Regardless, Lukaku now has a point to prove. He always has really. He left Chelsea when the club opted for Diego Costa over Lukaku coming off a fantastic season on loan. He went to Manchester United after he showed he was a legit Premier League starter. He went to Inter Milan when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave up on him. And now he is at Chelsea, with a huge pedigree, still having to prove himself.

There is no better club for Romelu Lukaku to make a point against than his former club Manchester United. They gave up on him, Chelsea can trust him.

First of all, let’s talk about how the goals are coming at the moment. Reece James has been a monster as of late, but other midfielders and defenders have been chipping in. That is part of the plan, in some ways. Much of Thomas Tuchel’s tactics come from overloads and underloads. One area will be overloaded so the ball can be switched to the underload and damage can be done. Usually, teams do this flank to flank (and Chelsea does too), but it is also possible to do this vertically.

That’s what has been happening recently. The front three have failed to make a stamp on games because they are being used as distractions. They pin the defense and open up more space for the likes of James to come into and do damage. It’s part of the trick, but it’s also why someone like Lukaku was brought in.

Lukaku is able to pin defenses like this and still score. And, even if he can’t, he’s able to pin more defenders on his own than others. That opens up space for even more attackers and it will make Chelsea more dangerous.

Many will say that Kai Havertz makes the attack more fluid, but that’s not really true. Fundamentally, Havertz isn’t doing anything that Lukaku hasn’t been doing before. People view Lukaku through his time at United (specifically his last season) but ignore the rest of his career. Few that watch Belgium will say Lukaku isn’t fluid. This isn’t even a matter of Tuchel changing his tactics around Lukaku or Lukaku changing his style around Tuchel. They are already compatible.

But, Lukaku still needs to remind people of what they forgot in a short time. United is there for the taking and Lukaku should be more than ready to put them to the sword.