Thomas Tuchel has explained why he subbed off Saul Niguez during Chelsea’s Premier League game against Watford and says the decision was for ‘tactical reasons’.
Saul, who joined the Blues on loan from Atletico Madrid over the summer, was handed only his second Premier League start on Wednesday.
But the Spain international struggled in the first half as Emmanuel Dennis cancelled out Mason Mount’s opening goal and was replaced by Thiago Silva at the break.
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Saul was also taken off at half-time on his Premier League debut and appears to be struggling to adapt to Premier League football and make a success of his loan spell at the club.
Watford were the better side in the opening 45 minutes and Chelsea continued to struggle after half-time but still secured the three points thanks to a goal from Hakim Ziyech.
Speaking after the 2-1 victory, Tuchel was asked about Saul’s substitution & said: ‘I don’t know where he goes from this performance but he was on a yellow card so we had two options.
‘We could have taken Marcos [Alonso] off who also had a yellow card and try Saul as a wing-back.
‘I had this in my mind before the game, if something happened to Marcos. But I thought maybe it was not the right match to try things with new positions so it was [subbing] him to change the shape a little bit and have Thiago on the pitch with his organising.
‘Having Trevoh [Chalobah] on the number six who is more physical – unfortunately Trevoh injured himself and we ended up with Ruben on the single six. But it was a tactical decision.’
While former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri felt his Watford team deserved ‘at least a point’ in the clash, he was more than satisfied with the hosts’ display as they threatened to stun the European champions.
‘We deserved at least a point but that’s football,’ the Hornets boss said. ‘I’m very satisfied with our performance.
‘We must continue this way and sooner or later the points will arrive. We must believe in this job. They’re working very well. ‘I hope the fans are proud of us. I’m proud of my players. We pushed in every situation.
‘Chelsea have fantastic players but all we can do is keep going and believe. We never gave up. We want to continue in this way. We believe this is the right way.’
