Chelsea news: Agbonlahor ‘feels sorry for’ Romelu Lukaku, recalls ‘Neville and Lampard laughing at me’
The Chelsea squad may have argued in crisis talks over Romelu Lukaku.
That is the view of ex-England and Aston Villa attacker Gabby Agbonlahor, speaking exclusively to Football Insider after Lukaku touched the ball just seven times as Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 1-0 on Saturday (19 February) – a new Premier League low.
As quoted by Sky Sports yesterday (22 February), Thomas Tuchel insisted his striker needed support and it was “not the time to laugh”.
He was axed for the Blues’ 2-0 victory over Lille in the Champions League last night.
“I’m on Lukaku’s side,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider‘s Connor Whitley.
“I get laughed at because I had nine touches in the first half against Spurs in 2015. Gary Neville and Frank Lampard were laughing about it at half-time.
“If you look between now and then there will be a lot of players who had fewer touches than me in a half.
“Sometimes it happens, when your teams have not got the ball you don’t get the touches because you’re the furthest one up the pitch.
“Chelsea play like they get a goal every 15 passes. It’s very boring.
“They don’t play to strengths. At Inter they played on the counter-attack, got the ball to him.
“Seven touches in a game. That’s alarming. That’s a team meeting after the game, why are you not passing to me? I’m getting laughed at, why are you not involving me?
“The players will have been arguing about it. I feel sorry for Lukaku.
“What can he do? If he comes out and drops into midfield like Kane people will have a go at him. He’s been told to stay up the pitch.
“If it’s a failure of system and tactics. If I’m Tuchel, stop all the nonsense tika-take keep-ball, let’s get forward. Keeping the ball doesn’t win games.”
In other news, an ex-Fifa referee has revealed Premier League rule-makers could ‘rewrite the law’ after what he’s seen at Chelsea.