Thomas Tuchel is only too well aware of the fact that his bosses at Chelsea will not tolerate failure besides not being known for having large reserves of patience, which has left his benching of Lukaku facing further uncertainty over his future.<\/p>\n
When things came to a head and the former Inter Milan striker\u00a0needed a start against Lille, the \u00a3100million Belgium striker was benched by his gaffer. And, painful as it ended up for the Belgian, the Blues actually were the better for it, being effectively faster, more fluid and far more difficult to contain.<\/p>\n
Ex Bundesliga dangerman Kai Havertz took just five touches to find the net within seven minutes \u2013 in dire contrast to Lukaku\u2019s infamous seven touches in 90 minustes at Crystal Palace last Saturday. Thomas Tuchel had offered the reason pre-match that Lukaku had \u201clooked a little exhausted\u201d having started the previous 10 games consecutively.<\/p>\n
Of course this was polite tosh that nobody was buying as all and sundry were still talking about the Belgian\u2019s hard landing at Selhurst Park.<\/p>\n
After the 2-0 win over Lille, Tuchel explained in the post-match interview that Havertz had provided more for his team than Lukaku had been, having grafted more, tracking back more and being much more creative in making more things happen instead of waiting for things to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really steps up in games. His effort is immense, his work rate is immense,\u201d said Tuchel. \u201cThe volume of the areas of the pitch that he covers for us is very, very good.\u201d<\/p>\n
This must surely have stung for Lukaku to have Tuchel it set out so publicly in the post-match press conference as his team-mates must at least shoulder part of the blame being aware when he arrived last summer that he would turbo-charge their chase for the Premier League title, yet they opted not to adapt to his style of play despite Lukaku making countless runs in games in vain. Clearly, whatever the reasons, they are not eager to want to find him on the pitch.<\/p>\n
So now it looks as if it\u2019s the Belgian who has to give way or give in as Tuchel is running out of time for indulgences, being hard-pressed with competitions to win with his job hinging on the results.<\/p>\n
Looking at the way things are going, one wouldn\u2019t bet on Lukaku starting Sunday\u2019s Carabao Cup Final. While it does indeed look like Lukaku could be gone in the summer, to his credit Inter Milan was set up to get the best out of him last season while Chelsea clearly are not, nor do they seem to want to be.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time the Belgian gives some serious thought to his future options.<\/p>\n
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