Thomas Tuchel says Reece James is the reason why Trevoh Chalobah has been missing for Chelsea recently
Thomas Tuchel has conveyed that Reece James has played a part in causing Trevoh Chalobah to be absent from Chelsea’s starting lineup recently. The centre-back has surprisingly failed to earn minutes in the last few matches, which has prompted journalists to demand a response from the boss.
Chalobah has not played even a single minute this month which shows the current plight that he is going through. Speaking in the pre-match press conference (h/t Chelsea official website), Tuchel has responded by saying that the central defender’s recent snub was because of a tactical decision with James.
The German coach added that he needed James’ speed to deal with key opponents on the left-hand side of the backline. The manager also mentioned that his decision was influenced by concerns over the wing-back’s physicality after returning from muscle injury.
“It’s hard decisions at the moment. We recently had Reece James playing in this position in the back three because of his physicality and also his speed against key players on the left sides of our opponents. He needs to be patient as we have Thiago Silva in shape, Andreas Christensen back from injury and Reece James played in his position.”
Tough blow for Chalobah!
The former Paris Saint-Germain man further explained the reasons for choosing James over Chalobah as a centre-back. He revealed how playing in that role reduces the physical demand on the English wing-back, which is something that was considered following the lengthy muscle injury.
“The back three is a little bit less demanding physically, in comparison to the wing-back position, especially given he is coming back from a muscle injury over so many weeks.”
The Blues boss’ intentions are understandable as playing as a wing-back in the current system would be very demanding for James. After all, the 22-year-old would need to constantly bomb up and down the right flank, which may not be best for his muscles after the injury he suffered.
Unfortunately, Chalobah is the one suffering from this decision as the English central defender has not played at all in April so far. With Christensen and Silva being ahead of him in the pecking order, the youngster has been cast aside by Tuchel, which is tough to take in even if the intentions were reasonable.
That being said, it is good to know that the Chelsea coach is looking to provide Chalobah more game time in the matches to come. We hope to see that happen as we need the defender to constantly improve moving forward, especially after the breakthrough season he enjoyed with us so far.
We need Chalobah to get accustomed to becoming a regular, considering how we could lose Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta this summer. Should such a defensive exodus take place, it is always best to have our other options ready to take over the starting role.
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Silva, on the other hand, isn’t getting any younger. In such a case, Chalobah can be one of the solutions, but for that to happen, he must stamp his authority as a starter. Whether that will happen, though, remains to be seen in the coming months.
The Blues take on Arsenal today and it will be interesting to see what system Tuchel goes with. James scored a goal for us the last time we faced the Gunners, back in August 2021 in a 2-0 win at the Emirates. Chalobah started that game on the bench and remained an unused substitute.