Tuchel is not concerned with Hudson-Odoi’s confidence or ability … when he starts

Thomas Tuchel’s solid start to life as Chelsea manager had some problems yesterday. No, he has not yet lost a game – although the 1-1 draw against Southampton was anything but noteworthy – but he committed the most serious sin in the eyes of the football gods by replacing a substitute without being asked for a lesion.

The rarity of such an event ensured that it was central to any post-game discussion, regardless of how much it may or may not have affected the actual outcome. It also ensured that any such discussion was basically an episode of overreacting theater.

Tuchel himself was more than willing to elaborate his thought process, which of course did not help the situation either. A lot of confidence in the public, Tommy Cool, as well as Christopher Nolan with Principle.

But at the end of the day, both the head coach and the player must overcome this disturbance in the strength that made a million voices scream in agony and return to the business of winning games. Whether Twitter will be able to cope with Hudson-Odoi’s decision to start on Tuesday against Atletico Madrid is something that will not cross Tuchel’s mind. He is more concerned with what he sees from Hudson-Odoi as a starter against Hudson-Odoi as a replacement.

“Tomorrow is already over and maybe he will start against Atlético if we need his qualities. But then he needs to be reliable and trustworthy and this is the next step for him. He’s in a little trouble when he leaves the bank, it was like that against Sheffield [United] is today.

“So it’s up to him to improve because we need him in some bank games, to brake in a different way. So, now it’s forgotten and he took a step forward, learn from it, swallow and there’s no problem. “

It is ironic that it is Hudson-Odoi with whom Tuchel made his first public gaffe for the Chelseaverse, considering that the young wing has been a key figure in the new coach’s game plans since day zero. The same certainly could not be said for Frank Lampard, who apparently could not trust this Chelsea Academy product as much as most of the others from Youth Revolution ™.

Lampard may (also) have criticized Callum at times for similar issues with effort and attitude, but Tuchel was very generous to the 20-year-old and also reaped the rewards of those decisions. Chelsea’s attack lacks the forefront, but Hudson-Odoi has been one of the sharpest blues to date.

If we can react positively to this cataclysmic event, we must expect it to continue.

“In a game in which it is difficult to create chances, you have to rely on the counterattack to, perhaps, force mistakes, get a second ball and have an easy chance. For that, you need to be fully connected and sharp. I didn’t feel that about Callum today.

“He lost chances of back pressure, he lost a few easy balls. I had the feeling that he never really liked the game. You know that I trust him a lot because he plays all the games for us, but today I was close to him and I don’t know, maybe it was unfair, but today I didn’t have the feeling that I usually get from him because he can be decisive. “

Tuchel had several well-publicized replacement dramas (of the most common type) with Kylian Mbappé at PSG, while we remember a certain José Mourinho once doing the same feat with Nemanja Matić in 2015 as well. Of course, Matić was not entirely happy about it, but he would eventually leave Chelsea a few years later to be reunited with Mourinho at Manchester United. Football might consider this a “humiliation” because football can be weird in certain ways, but at the end of the day, it’s just … well, football. It is not life or death, unless we want it to be.

Hudson-Odoi has already spoken positively about Tuchel and vice versa. And, obviously, in the field, things have been good, if not great. This moment may be a turning point in that relationship, and perhaps in Tuchel’s overall time at Chelsea, but whether it will be in a positive or negative direction depends entirely on the main players involved.

“It was a difficult decision, but nothing that gets in the way or remains for a long time. Tomorrow it will be forgotten and we will prepare for Atlético. “

“No, absolutely not [worried it will affect his confidence]. Everyone has to understand that I make decisions to win games and there is no problem that he makes mistakes, has a bad game or makes mistakes, but there must be no shortage of energy or 10% or 5%. It’s not possible.

“I know what he can do, which is why I trust him so much. This is not going to change. He knows exactly what I demand of him and when he doesn’t reach that level, it may be a difficult decision like today. There is no need to think in old-fashioned terms that this is the worst thing that can happen, no. “

-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London

Chelsea’s next six games are against Atletico Madrid (twice), Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Leeds United. This race could certainly make something much worse happen than replacing a substitute 30 minutes into the second half for a clearly explained reason (regardless of whether you agree with the reason or not).

We move on.

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