Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel insisted that the formation change had nothing to do with Romelu Lukaku’s poor performance in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.
The Blues secured their second win over Palace thanks to Hakim Ziyech’s late winner despite being far from their best.
Defensively, they were solid, as expected given Tuchel fielded four centre-backs with Malang Sarr and Andreas Christensen playing as left and right full-back, respectively.
Up front, however, it is a completely different story.
Tuchel deployed a 4-1-4-1 system. Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, N’Golo Kante, and Hakim Ziyech operated behind Lukaku.
But despite having three playmakers behind him, Lukaku hardly got involved in the game.
The Belgium international had just seven touches, fewer than even Mateo Kovacic and Marcos Alonso who came on in the last 15 minutes.
“It’s not about the system,” Tuchel told beIN SPORTS when asked about Lukaku’s lack of involvement in the game.
“It is what it is. But for him, [there] was not a change of system because it’s the same attacking structure.
“Sometimes in the build-up, we attack in a three-two and sometimes a four-one.
“For him, it changed nothing.”
The German also pointed out how he did not expect too much from his players after playing 120 minutes in two of their three last games and suffering from jet lag.
A win is a win in the end, but Chelsea will soon have to rediscover their best form.
They may not get away from such performance against the next two opponents; Lille in the Champions League and Liverpool in the League Cup final.
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