Liverpool legend John Barnes reassures Chelsea fans over striker Romelu Lukaku’s form
Speaking to BonusCodeBets (h/t Metro), former Liverpool superstar John Barnes has backed Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku to ‘come good’ and reassured Blues fans that his form ‘won’t be an issue’ for the remainder of the season.
Lukaku returned to Stamford Bridge the previous summer for a record fee following his title-winning season at Inter Milan. The Belgian made a superb start to life at Chelsea, regularly scoring for the Blues, but then saw his form dip drastically and went on a 10-game goal drought. He expressed his frustration at the situation in an interview with Sky Italia, saying he hoped to return to Inter Milan in the near future.
His comments saw the Chelsea fans turn on Lukaku, with the striker struggling to find his scoring touch when the team needed him most. However, Barnes has however defended the striker and believes that Lukaku’s form will not be an issue for Chelsea this season.
“Romelu Lukaku can turn it around at Chelsea and he won’t come to blows with Thomas Tuchel because Tuchel is in control. He’s struggled in the last couple of games but he’s still had injuries and missed a few games, but it won’t be an issue. At this moment in time, Chelsea are still fighting on four fronts and Lukaku will come good again.”
Barnes referenced the recent fallout between Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and said the situation could worsen and come to blows if Lukaku considers going head-to-head with manager Thomas Tuchel. The ex-Liverpool man believes that, unlike Arteta, Tuchel was in control and backed Lukaku to turn it around for the remainder of the season.
Tuchel has also been critical of his Belgian forward’s performances this season, singling out Lukaku for his performance against Manchester City last weekend. The loss saw the Blues miss out on a chance to catch up to the league leaders and fall further behind in the title race.
However, the German coach turned things around this week and came to Lukaku’s defence following the draw against Brighton and Hove Albion. Tuchel admitted that the 28-year-old forward is ‘not the problem’, a rather pointed admission given recent events.
“Today not about Romelu, there are too many questions about Romelu and too many answers about Romelu. Romelu is by far not the problem, he’s part of the solution.”
Although Lukaku was welcomed back to much fanfare at the beginning of the season, the striker could not have imagined finding himself in today’s situation, struggling in front of goal. To make matters worse, the Belgian’s comments about Inter Milan and a potential return to his former club created a divide between the player and the fans, who have now turned against him.
Although the player issued an apology for his ill-timed comments, Lukaku has looked like a shadow of his former self. The public backlash seems to have affected his self-confidence, which seems evident in recent games. Hopefully Tuchel can help iron it out.
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Adding to this loss in form for Lukaku, the players has also been dealing with an intense fixture schedule, playing multiple games across different competitions in quick succession. The lack of rest is an issue as Lukaku has appeared to suffer from fatigue and was off the pace at times. With games set to come thick and fast, it is something he will need to adapt to.
As Barnes said, we hope that Lukaku puts these incidents and loss of form behind him for the remainder of the campaign and prove his detractors wrong.
