Thomas Tuchel has insisted that Chelsea will not change their entire approach just to suit Romelu Lukaku, but has labelled the striker as a ‘key player’ despite his sluggish start to the season.

Boss Tuchel took aim at the frontman after the 1-0 defeat at Manchester City, having criticised him for surrendering possession cheaply. Lukaku also squandered his side’s biggest chance in the second half, their only shot on target.

And when questioned on how the team can do more to aid the £98million signing out of his slump, the manager hit back, declaring that it would be ‘wrong’ to place focus on just one of his stars.

‘We do everything to help him,’ he said in his pre-match press conference today. ‘It is absolutely the wrong question because it is focusing on one player.

‘He is a key player and we want him to be a key player but this is for me the wrong approach.’

He then went on to add: ‘This is what we do by the way constantly, for any player.

‘It’s a team sport, not about ten players serving one player. This is not Chelsea or football. Every player serves one team, this will never change.’

An irate Tuchel dropped Lukaku against Liverpool earlier this month in the wake of a bombshell interview in which the marksman took a swipe at his coach’s tactics.

He subsequently apologised for his comments, which he made to an Italian television station. Tuchel accused him of making ‘unnecessary noise’.

Lukaku has scored just four goals in his 18 appearances for the club after returning for a second spell from Inter Milan.

Taking aim at all of his attacking players after the defeat by runaway league leaders City, Tuchel aired his frustration at the lack of composure on display.

Lukaku, however, was singled out for particular criticism.

‘He had many ball losses without pressure and in very promising circumstances,’ Tuchel said.

‘Of course we want to serve him but he is part of the team and sometimes he needs to do service as well. He had a huge chance so he’s included in this.

‘He is part of the team and the performances up front, especially in the first half, we can do much better and we need to do better.

‘We had eight or nine attacking transitions in the first half and zero touches in the box. That is a big problem.

‘There was a lack of timing and composure. We could have had more chances if we played with better precision.’