Substitute
Callum Hudson-Odoi was replaced in Chelsea's 1-1 draw at Southampton because
the forward's "attitude" was not right, says head coach Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel brought Hudson-Odoi on at half-time at St Mary's in place of Tammy
Abraham.
However, despite the visitors equalising, the German then took off the
20-year-old forward with 14 minutes to go on the south coast - with Hakim
Ziyech taking his place in attack - for tactical and not injury reasons.
"No, it was not injury-related," Tuchel confirmed after the match. "I was
not happy with his attitude, energy and counter-pressing.
"In a game where it was not easy to create chances, you need to rely on
counter-pressing to force errors to get the second ball and get the easy
chance.
"And for that, you need to be totally on and sharp for counter-pressing and
I did not feel this with Callum today.
"He missed some opportunities for counter-pressing and lost some easy balls
and I had the feeling he was never really in the game.
"You know I trust him a lot as he plays every game for us, but today I was
close to him and… I do not know, maybe it was unfair, but I did not get the
normal feeling with him today that he can be decisive.
"So it is a hard decision today, but nothing that will stick between us, or
stick for long. Tomorrow it will be forgotten and we prepare for Atletico."
Asked if withdrawing the England international will dent his confidence,
Tuchel replied: "No, absolutely not. Everyone has to understand that I make
decisions to win games.
"There is no problem that he makes mistakes, has a bad game, or misses, but
we can't lack energy even 10 per cent or five per cent. It's not possible. I
know what he can give and it's why I trust him a lot.
"That will not change. He knows exactly what I demand from him and when he
doesn't reach this level, maybe it means a hard decision like today.
"There is no need to think in old-fashioned terms that this is the worst
thing that can ever happen, no.
"Tomorrow it's already over and maybe he starts against Atletico if we need
his qualities. But then he needs to be trustworthy and reliable and this is
the next step for him.
"He's a bit in trouble when he comes off the bench, it was like this against
Sheffield (United) and today.
"So it's on him to improve because we need him in some games from the bench,
to hang in a different way.
"But now it's forgotten and he has to step up, learn from it, swallow it,
and there's no problem."
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