Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has explained the reason behind Callum Hudson-Odoi’s surprise substitution against Southampton in the Premier League yesterday.
The Blues produced a below-par display at St Mary’s and they trailed at the break after a goal from Takumi Minamino on the counter-attack.
The west London side managed to come out of the game with a point after Mason Mount converted a penalty in the 54th minute which he had won.
Hudson-Odoi was a half-time substitute for Tammy Abraham but he only played for 30 minutes before he was taken off with Hakim Ziyech replacing him.
The decision came as a huge surprise and following the game, Tuchel clarified that Hudson-Odoi had not suffered any injury.
He added that he was not impressed with the forward’s counter-pressing and energy on the field and that urged him to take him off.
“In a game when it is hard to create chances you need to rely on counter-pressing to force errors and get the second ball and get an easy chance,” he told Chelseafc.com.
“For that you need to be totally on and totally sharp for counter-pressing and I did not feel that from Callum today.
“He missed some opportunities for counter-pressing, he lost some easy balls. I had the feeling he was never really into the game.”
Sportslens view:
Since the appointment of Tuchel last month, Hudson-Odoi has been a regular for the Blues and has been one of their standout performers.
However, the German has made it clear that no player can take his place for granted and that was on display against the Saints on Sunday.
Abraham was largely ineffective up front and he was brought off at the interval.
Hudson-Odoi squandered possession on multiple occasions and Tuchel made the decision to take him off despite him being a second-half substitute.
Tuchel may have made further changes if he had more substitutions at his disposal.
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