Thomas Tuchel rips into Romelu Lukaku over “many” mistakes in Chelsea’s Man City loss

Thomas Tuchel did not shy away from commenting about Romelu Lukaku’s performance during Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.

In what will surely turn out to be a decisive Premier League title clash, the Citizens stretched their gap at the top of the Premier League table by 13 points after Kevin de Bruyne's wonderful effort on 70 minutes secured all three points for Pep Guardiola’s men.

After the game, Tuchel said his side did enough to earn a draw but he expected a lot more from the Blues in the final third.

“A result like this can happen,” he said to BT Sport. “We deserved a draw. We didn't allow big chances - one from a big mistake in the first half, but we were not under that much pressure.

"Performance-wise it was OK. From the commitment, I'm absolutely OK with the performance. We have won games like this against City and that feels very different, but that's the way it is.

"We had eight or nine offensive transitions and zero touches in the box. It was simply a lack of precision and a lack of composure. On a level like this we lost too many balls too easily. That was a big problem in our game today.

"We had moments where we suffered, but not stronger than in the first game. In the first half, we can do much better and create better chances with better ball control."

The German manager then spoke about Lukaku, who was leading the frontline at the Etihad as part of a 3-4-2-1 formation.

He said: "Sometimes he has to do the service. He had many ball losses and a huge chance. Of course, we want to serve him but he's part of the team. The performance upfront in the first half, we can do much, much better."

The former Paris Saint-Germain boss also spoke about Chelsea’s chances of now catching up to Man City in the title race, with the northwest club now in pole position to win the title once more.

He said: “On the title race: "It's not my question to answer. We won't give up, but if City keep on winning every game, nobody can catch them."

Lukaku's interview with Sky Italia landed him in hot water with the fans. He was left out of the squad when Chelsea faced Liverpool but has since apologised and come back in.