Lukaku is killing his own confidence: Former Chelsea man gives damning verdict of €100 million man

Former Chelsea man Mario Melchiot has advised Romeluy Lukaku to have a frank conversation with Thomas Tuchel in order to help him get back to his best.

The 28-year-old was dropped to the Chelsea bench again in his side’s 2-0 FA Cup semi-final victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The Blues spurned a lot of chances in the match, but scaled through the hurdle of Patrick Vieira’s side to set up a final with Liverpool for the second time this season. It was also their first FA Cup final since 1995 and Tuchel’s sixth final since taking over from Frank Lampard a year and a half ago.

Lukaku, however, played a very small role, coming on for only the last 13 minutes of the game. He also managed to spurn a chance to put Chelsea three up, leading to mare jeers from a fan base who are already disillusioned with the Belgian.

At the end of the match, ex-Chelsea full-back Melchiot opined that there must be something wrong with Lukaku and how Tuchel is using him. He suggested that the striker find time to speak with the manager to help him figure out what’s wrong.

“He needs a good chat with his coach,” Melchiot said on TalkSPORT. “To understand what his coach wants because if not he’s just killing his own confidence. Coming back after an injury and getting back in the team and coming on, of course he hit the post trying to get the ball in the goal, it’s just sad, a player of his stature, of his ability.

“Coming with so much confidence and then going through the moments he’s going through now, the only thing he can do for himself is have a good chat, understand what the coach wants because I don’t always think that Lukaku really understands what’s expected from him in the system that Tuchel wants to play.”

Tuchel also challenged Lukaku to pick himself up after the game, citing Timo Werner as an example for Lukaku to follow.

Werner has struggled in his time at Chelsea but has never had his mentality questioned. He always provided some bite to the Blues attack but his end product was lacking.

However, the German has since improved on that front, scoring and assisting for Chelsea and regaining the confidence of the coaches and fans.

Tuchel asked Lukaku to take a leaf from Werner, who went through his own difficult period at the club.

"What Timo has done is exactly what [Lukaku] needs to do," Tuchel said. "Wait, be patient, work hard and put the team first, be ready to help the team, because as a striker you can help within seconds.

“Now [Werner] has made it difficult to leave him out. I’m impressed, he was very, very good in the last two games."

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