Chelsea youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi has explained it does sometimes get exhausting playing his role in Thomas Tuchel’s system.
Hudson-Odoi, 20, is an exciting youngster that has been spoken about for years as the next big talent to come out of the Blues academy.
He’s now racked up 100 senior games for Chelsea and his preference is to play as an attacking winger. However, he’s had a fair amount of minutes within Thomas Tuchel’s 3-4-2-1 system as a right wing-back.
Chelsea boss Tuchel has had tremendous success with a switch to a back-three, which results in the team using wing-backs that get up and down the pitch for 90 minutes.
Hudson-Odoi has given an insight into what it’s like for him to switch from a winger to a full-back.
“The way I look at it now is I’m in the situation where I have to help out much more in defence rather than attack. It’s up and down and it gets tiring at times but you’re always pushing for the clean sheet because if they don’t score, they don’t win,” he said.
Hudson-Odoi showing great professionalism
It’s great to hear the Chelsea youngster talking so maturely about his new role because most supporters still want to see him in more advanced positions influencing games in the final third.
He does get the chance to get forward as a right wing-back, something Marcos Alonso does to great effect on the opposite flank.
However, it clearly involves a more defensive mindset. Also, Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James can both play the right wing-back role well, too.
Hudson-Odoi must enjoy getting onto the pitch in any capacity so his flexibility is helpful, but surely long-term he’s got eyes on being an attacker at Stamford Bridge.
He’s definitely still learning all the tricks of a wing-back role, which is why it’s going to be interesting to see how this season works out for him. It does mean his minutes will be down if he’s only cover at wing-back.
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