Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has highlighted where he thinks Chelsea frontman Romelu Lukaku needs to improve.
Hasselbaink, who scored 87 Chelsea goals during his playing career, watched the 28-year-old in action yesterday.
Lukaku turned out be the match-winner for the Blues, scoring in the 1-0 victory against Al Hilal in FIFA’s Club World Cup semi-final. The left-footed striker reacted fastest in the box to fire in a close-range finish for his ninth goal of the season.
Hasselbaink said during the half-time analysis of Chelsea’s win that Lukaku has to show more movement, though.
He suggests the Belgian striker needs extra movements and feints in his overall game.
“I still feel he should do better with his movement. There is only one little movement, while sometimes good strikers they make two or three movements to get the centre-halves out and keep making you space,” Hasselbaink told E4.
It’s an interesting criticism from someone who himself scored a lot in his career.
Lukaku’s not as mobile as other strikers in the game, and this campaign is not going quite to plan for him. However, he’s scored a remarkable 260 career goals at club level to date, largely down to getting in the right areas.
Yesterday’s criticism was matched by Steve Nicol, who thinks the Blues number nine is not a natural finisher.
Lukaku will shrug off his critics
Unfortunately, you’re going to be under the spotlight when a club fork out a near-£100million for you in the summer window.
He must be used to hearing criticism about his finishing and movement, but it doesn’t usually stop him putting up very impressive numbers in front of goal.
It does feel like Blues manager Thomas Tuchel needs to get more out of the £97.5million ace to keep him in every starting XI.
For certain, it helps having other players around him. The likes of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech are all teammates capable of linking up to help bring the best out of him.
Lukaku should be in the prime of his career right now, but he’ll continue to keep learning and adapting his game.
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