Thomas Tuchel made a joke about his new plans for Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, as he made a point about the sacrifices Chelsea strikers made in their excellent run of results.
Reece James is now leading the Blues’ goalscoring charts after scoring a brace in the 3-0 win over Newcastle United on Saturday.
With a similarly impressive output, his left-sided counterpart, Ben Chilwell, is now one of the joint-second top scorers alongside Mason Mount and Romelu Lukaku with three goals.
It was obviously not the first time that Chelsea had to rely on their wing-backs to score, despite having a plethora of attacking talents at their disposal.
Lukaku and Timo Werner, who were absent at St James’ Park due to injuries, in particular, have yet to meet the expectations so far this season.
However, Tuchel stressed how his attackers sometimes have to make selfless decisions to help the team at the expense of their goalscoring records.
Chelsea strikers make sacrifices, says Tuchel
“Maybe we need to try them [Lukaku and Werner] as wing-backs,” the Chelsea manager jokingly said during his post-match press conference (via Hayters TV).
“It’s a complex game.
“I think that Reece [couldn’t have scored] if Callum [Hudson-Odoi] had not made the dribble.
“Maybe Callum [couldn’t have made] the dribble if [Ben] Chilwell had not opened the space.
The Chelsea manager also highlighted that in the build-up to James’ first goal, Chelsea had plenty of other goalscoring threats.
He pointed out that Kai Havertz was available on the near post, while Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were also inside the box.
“[Because of these] then it was possible to score on the far post.”
“So that’s why sometimes our strikers also make sacrifices to create chances and spaces for the others.”
Tuchel went on to praise James for his excellent shooting while making a rather funny comparison.
“You absolutely don’t need to do shooting exercises with Reece,” the German explained.
“He shoots like a horse. He always does.”
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