Cristiano Ronaldo’s criticism is wrong – Solskjaer supports Man Utd superstar’s work ethic

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Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted his comments on a possible Romelu Lukaku-Erling Haaland partnership were a “joke” as he tried to downplay speculation linking the European champions to the star of Borussia Dortmund.

Tuchel said this week that Chelsea have discussed a move for Haaland and has not ruled out teaming up with the much-requested Norwegian striker with Lukaku at Stamford Bridge.

However, Tuchel returned to those comments as Chelsea prepare to host Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday.

“I fell into a trap,” Tuchel told reporters, referring to his interview with Bild. “I received an award in Germany. I received an award from a newspaper and they asked me about a player.

“Normally I never, ever talk about other players because I just never do.

“Then we didn’t care more or less. I should have known because [I was] laugh at that and be a nice guy and answer a question instead of “no, I don’t want to answer a question”.

“Getting that award and I’m joking about a double striker with Romelu in October, then it’s like we made an offer. That was the context, but okay I should have known better.”

Haaland has 70 goals in 69 games for Dortmund since arriving in January last year, only Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich (89 goals in 74 games) has a better comeback among players in Europe’s top five leagues.

In the Bundesliga this season, Haaland has surpassed his expected goal value (xG) of 2.9 (nine goals, 6.1 xG) – only Bayer Leverkusen sensation Florian Wirtz has eclipsed his value (3.0), according to Opta.

Since Haaland joined Dortmund, he has surpassed his xG value (38.7) in the Bundesliga by 10.3. This is the highest value of a player in the top five European leagues at the moment.

Since Haaland’s arrival in Dortmund he has scored 13 Bundesliga goals after races – in Europe’s top five leagues he is only surpassed by six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi (15).

In the 2021-2022 league campaign, Haaland is one of four players who took part in 10 open play streaks that ended in a goal – along with Andrej Kramaric of Hoffenheim, Bayern veteran Thomas Muller and Wirtz.

“It’s interesting that as German staff we get very humble when we see the difference in performance in the Bundesliga and obviously how harder it is to produce the same numbers in the Premier League,” Tuchel added.

“This is also the big question in every transfer you make. This player plays in Germany, Spain, Italy or conversely in England, can he also play in the other country, the other? culture, in the other This is for me one of the big questions because we can identify them at any physical or mental level, do tests with them and observe them, how they behave.

“On social media they let you watch their life so you know pretty much everything except the fact what does it mean if you play in club A in country B what does it mean for your club C in country D? That will be the question.

“Every player is different, so to make it a general rule of thumb it might not be possible, but it seems like this is the toughest league here and produces some great stats. It can’t be. a surprise. You’re proud to have this league in England and you should be. It’s a lot of fun to watch and maybe more fun to work in. It’s like that. “

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