Thomas Tuchel says he ‘expects more’ goals from Kai Havertz, but has defended Romelu Lukaku after he rediscovered his goalscoring touch in Chelsea’s Club World Cup win.
Havertz scored a late penalty in extra-time as Chelsea beat Brazilian outfit Palmeiras in the Club World Cup final earlier this month.
But that was only the German’s second goal since mid-November and Tuchel admits Chelsea ‘expect more’ from Havertz on the goals front.
While Tuchel wants Havertz to be more ‘clinical’ and ‘precise’ in front of goal, the Blues boss acknowledged the 22-year-old has improved and become a more important player for the Premier League club since his move from Bayer Leverkusen in 2020.
‘If we isolate the goalscoring, then yes we expect more and he expects more for sure,’ Tuchel said at his pre-Crystal Palace press conference on Friday.
‘But the consistency in terms of what he is giving to the team, I think he has stepped up already and is pretty consistent.
‘We can see a lot of intensity in his game and physicality. He has stepped that up from the beginning of this season in training and when he plays he is tougher to play against, more physical, relies more on his strength, and makes lots of runs without the ball.
‘I think he is in the process of being more reliable and being more consistent. Of course, he is an offensive player and has the ability to score. Of course, we want more goals and he wants more goals.
‘In this part of the game, he can improve, he be more clinical and precise, he can use his technique better in shooting. So there are aspects of the game where there is space to develop because he is still young.
‘But he has stepped up twice in big matches, in crucial moments, and this can only be good for his development.’
Lukaku scored in both of Chelsea’s knockout games in the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi and has now netted 10 times in 27 appearances for the Blues this season.
Some pundits have raised concerns about the Belgium’s contributions since his £97.5m move from Inter Milan, but Tuchel seems less worried.
‘We demand a lot of our strikers in terms of intensity, so there are several reasons why things are maybe like this, but we are on it,’ Tuchel said when asked about Lukaku’s stats.
‘There are teams who heavily rely on one goalscorer – that is no secret – but there are teams, like Manchester City, who don’t heavily rely on one person and have it on more shoulders.
‘So both ways work and we want to bring Romelu to better situations, we want to create more situations, we want to understand him better and his team-mates want to understand him better.
‘It’s an ongoing process. We still have trust because he has proved at every club he has played for he is the guy who gets the last touch on attacks – he had a very important goal in the Club World Cup final too.
‘So disappointed is not the right word but, of course, we thought for him, and for him as well I’m pretty sure, he wanted to produce the numbers right from the start.
‘But we are all human and we keep on going. We demand at lot defensively from our strikers as well.’
Chelsea, currently third in the Premier League, continue their domestic campaign against London rivals Crystal Palace on Saturday.
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