‘Is not his nature, but I told him about it’ – Tuchel finally reveals why he keeps benching Lukaku
Thomas Tuchel made four changes to the team that beat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road in midweek, with Reece James, Thiago Silva, Jorginho and Hakim Ziyech coming into the team, after being rested in mid-week.
However, The Blues boss didn’t start with Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku for the game against West Ham.
It was expected that Lukaku would return to the starting lineup for this game, but Tuchel revealed that the Belgian wasn’t yet match fit.
Tuchel told BT Sport ahead of kick-off at the London Stadium: “The schedule is relentless, it’s such high intensity in the games.”
“I know that Romelu is pushing, I’m happy that he’s pushing. He’s impatient, it’s his nature.
“But there is a difference between match-ready and training-ready and there is a difference between Premier League-ready.
“We need to build him up, he needs to be a bit patient which is not his nature.”