Thomas Tuchel made a somewhat curious comment after the loss to Manchester City. When asked about Romelu Lukaku’s lack of service in the match, Tuchel flipped the question by stating Lukaku has to make his own service. He danced around a more direct criticism of the players tasked with providing that service by discussing the failed transitions.
It’s been just under a year since Thomas Tuchel arrived at Chelsea and what he wants in a forward is no more clear now than it was then. It’s not just a Lukaku issue and how he fits and who ultimately pushed for his signing. Of Chelsea’s many forwards, it is rarely clear exactly what Tuchel is looking for. He chops and changes constantly looking for the solution but it is no more clear now than it was during his first game against Wolverhampton.
The closest we may get to an idea of the type of forward Tuchel wants is by looking at his past. At Dortmund, a combination of Ousmane Dembele, Marco Reus, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. At Paris Saint-Germain, he tended towards Kylian Mbappe and Neymar more than he did Edinson Cavani or Mauro Icardi. He still found ways to use the latter two, but overall Tuchel seems to have a preference for forwards that are flexible in their approach and positioning to the game or are true game changers.
Given his preference for Aubameyang and Mbappe types, it is strange that he sanctioned the Lukaku signing. Mind, Lukaku is more flexible than given credit for but Tuchel has rarely used him in such a way. When playing alone up top, Lukaku is often left isolated with his back to goal, minimizing his ability to run into space and channels. Playing in a strike pair alleviates that issue, but Tuchel reverted back to a 3-4-2-1 for Manchester City, leaving Lukaku alone for every long ball launched his way. It was a strange approach that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense given alternative options.
It reminds of the snubbing of Tammy Abraham throughout the end of last season. Lukaku, much like Abraham for most of last season, is the team’s top scoring striker. Goals apparently aren’t enough to satisfy Tuchel however. He’s looking for more and though he is giving Lukaku more chances than he did Abraham, it is pretty clear the two players don’t really offer Tuchel what he is looking for despite their goals.
But the other options rarely impress either. For all the talk of Kai Havertz’s pressing and the fluidness of the attack around him, Havertz himself is practically a ghost in most games. He has occasionally shown the flashes of his Bayer Leverkusen form but, outside one Champions League winning goal that will forever be his, he really hasn’t lived up to his price tag anymore than Lukaku has. On paper, Havertz should really be ideal for Tuchel but it just hasn’t clicked.
The same can be said about Timo Werner. On paper he should be perfect for Tuchel in ways that Aubameyang was. In practice, for all his hard work and determination, he is also a shadow of himself. Six goals in 18 appearances isn’t necessarily the worst until one starts looking into it. Two goals against Zenit is good, but only one goal in the Premier League is truly concerning. Werner, like Havertz, is simply not the player he was in the Bundesliga and he hasn’t gotten any closer since an initial flurry of goals under Frank Lampard.
But not everyone has to be a hard worker or a goal scorer for Tuchel. Neymar and Dembele are hardly hard workers but they can be a massive decisive factor for a team. Three players could be similar at Chelsea but they, like those already mentioned, have their own issues.
Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi both have the ability to break through lines and turn a game on its head. The stats bear that out for both, but the reality is a much harsher picture. Pulisic against City was much like Pulisic in many games in recent memory: apathetically a passenger. Hudson-Odoi, for all his flashes, has just as many flashes of awfulness to drive Tuchel mad. These are players that could solve their issues in time, but compared to others Tuchel has little patience for their hiccups for long.
Then there is Hakim Ziyech who, against Tottenham, was the linchpin of the formational changes. But against Manchester City he put in such a stinker with Tuchel constantly losing his mind towards him on the sideline. Ziyech has always been a risk/reward type of player that can turn games around but far too often Tuchel sees the risks with too few rewards.
The only player that seems to meet Tuchel’s expectations is Mason Mount, and even he was dropped/rested for one of the biggest games of the season. Mount is the hardest worker in the team, relentless in the press, and his sense of positioning is fantastic. He lacks a natural ability for goals and assists yet still leads the team in goals plus assists. He’s been played pretty much everywhere but his “natural” position under Tuchel and still excels. Mount is the perfect player for the transitions Tuchel mentioned after the City match, making it even stranger that this was the game out of all games to rest him.
But what happens from here? Does Tuchel go back to the 4-2-2-2 that battered Tottenham with its two 10s and two strikers? Does he just go for the striker pair that seems to bring the best out of Lukaku and Werner? Or does he revert to the 3-4-2-1 that seemingly has no place for anyone but Mount to please him? Or does Chelsea again go to the market in search of a solution after spending 100s of millions of dollars trying to find one?