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Football London
Football London
Sport
Scott Trotter

Joe Cole on wanting an angry Romelu Lukaku vs Liverpool and why Chelsea will challenge Man City

Joe Cole wants to see an angry Romelu Lukaku take to the field against Liverpool in this weekend's Carabao Cup final.

The Belgian striker's place in Chelsea's team has come under a great deal of scrutiny following his performance against Crystal Palace which saw him take just seven touches over the course of 90 minutes.

Lukaku was then taken out of the firing line against Lille in the Champions League, but saw Kai Havertz score in the fixture while leading the line.

Over the course of the season and in the aftermath of the forward's notorious Sky Italia interview, there has been a great deal of debate of whether Lukaku must do more to be successful in Blue or whether Thomas Tuchel's system simply doesn't suit the £97.5 million signing.

Cole thinks the reasons for Lukaku's current form are plentiful, but that making an impact against Liverpool could act as a springboard.

"The answer is always in the middle," said the former Chelsea star. "It's never always going to be Romelu's fault, the team's fault, the system's fault. Footballer's aren't robots. He isn't at his confident best because he's not playing as well as he can.

"I think he's got the right manager. I think Thomas Tuchel took him out of the fire because Chelsea have the options to play in that position.

"I'd like to see him play angry at the weekend. Play angry, have a chip on your shoulder , want to show the world because he's got the ability.

"Strikers will get judged by goals. Ultimately they get judged by big moments. Lukaku is a fantastic player, a great talent, a proven goalscorer. He's having a difficult moment in the last few months, that can change in a moment. He will come out of that. It happens to all great players.

"He will play on the weekend whether it be from the start or towards the end of the game and he'll be looking to impact it and these things can springboard a career."

But who should start this weekend to cause Jurgen Klopp trouble? Lukaku remains Chelsea's top goalscorer but there is little doubt the front three of Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech showed more fluency on Tuesday evening.

Cole said: "When it gets to this level I think whoever plays has a threat. I think you pretty much know what Jurgen Klopp is going to do. Thomas Tuchel will be comfortable with that, I don't think he'll spend too much time considering what formation Liverpool will play.

"From the other perspective, Jurgen Klopp won't know what Tuchel is going to do. That's a good thing and a bad thing. I think Thomas Tuchel may have to be a little bit more pragmatic in his team selection. Whoever plays is a threat. It balances itself out."

While Chelsea have already delivered success this season, lifting the Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, it has not been a term without difficulty.

Tuchel's side showed great difficulty reaching the peak of their power over the course of December and January with Ben Chilwell and Reece James both ruled out with long term injuries.

That period has also seen the German coach occasionally veer away from his favoured 3-4-3, to a back four with Marcos Alonso, Malang Sarr and Callum Hudson-Odoi having all played on the left of defence in recent weeks.

While the Blues have lacked certainty without Chilwell and James, Cole believes that with quality back up, Chelsea should not be intimidated by the likes of Mo Salah.

He said: "They were on great form. Any of the top teams in the world losing them two players it will have effected them and it's affected Chelsea.

"The balance hasn't been as good as it was when they were in the team and playing well but you replace them with world class players as well - Azpilicueta and Alonso. Different types of players so the balance was off but credit to the group of players that they've carried on winning games in that spell. Not to the same level but they found a way to win and Thomas Tuchel has a way of doing that.

"Marcos Alonso, if he wins the league cup, he'll have won every trophy at Chelsea and join Azpilicueta on that list. He's a fantastic footballer, he has his attributes, he's not the perfect footballer - only a prime Lionel Messi could even argue that case.

"To deal with Mo Salah you need a defensive unit, it's not one player going up against him. Chelsea's unit is as good as anybody's. Whoever plays, the level doesn't go down defensively because of the organisation. I've no worries about that, you've got Rudiger there, I think they'll be fine."

The League Cup traditionally offers sides their first chance at silverware of the season and a win can do wonders for the momentum of the season. It was Cole's first trophy with the Blues on the way to also earning the Premier League title in Jose Mourinho's first season at Stamford Bridge.

The ex-England international believes that will be too great an ask on this occasion but victory could still be part of a successful season.

He said: "I think you can safely say without sounding to pessimistic that the league is out of reach for Chelsea at the moment because of the quality of the teams in front of them.

"A good season for Chelsea? They've already won trophies, more trophies plus a better league points tally than last year I think is a very, very good season for Thomas Tuchel and then he'll have more time to bring his own players in."

However, he is certain that the Blues are well on their way to competing for the Premier League in the future.

"100%, without a shadow of a doubt. Although it seems like a massive gulf between the clubs, there's really not. Small little details to get ironed out, Chelsea could be competing with them regularly for league title."

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