Graham Potter thinks Chelsea’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looked really tired during yesterday’s performance against Manchester City.
The Blues were beaten yet again in the Premier League this season, this time by a 1-0 scoreline at home to Man City.
Aubameyang, 33, was put through an embarrassment that no player likes on Thursday night.
The experienced striker was substituted on very early as a result of Raheem Sterling’s injury, but was then substituted off midway through the second-half.
He couldn’t make much impact at the top end of the pitch, despite Chelsea threatening in some moments to score.
Aubameyang looked tired
Potter was pleased with the contribution of Aubameyang before substituting the substitute.
He feels like the centre-forward was “fatiguing” after his hour on the pitch, though, which ultimately made his mind up to take him off.
“He came on after one minute, hadn’t played for a while, and put in an absolute shift for us given Manchester City make you run a lot,” Potter said, as quoted by Football London.
“He gave everything for the team and was fatiguing a little bit. So that was the decision.”
In our view, Potter has been pretty generous with his assessment of Aubameyang. However, pundit Chris Sutton went the other way by calling him “hopeless” last night”.
The injury pile up means Chelsea could rely on the attacker quite heavily in the coming weeks, so it could be decent management in the long run.
However, it was disappointing not see him do more during his time on the pitch.
There’s no doubt 19-year-old Carney Chukwuemeka had a much greater impact as a Chelsea substitute, so you can’t blame Potter for hauling Aubameyang off.
Many had high hopes for the striker after he was afforded rest during the World Cup break, but he’s stuck in a rut right now.
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