Chelsea supporters were left scratching their head after Thomas Tuchel gave his reason for excluding Tammy Abraham from yesterday’s matchday squad versus Manchester United.
Manchester United and Chelsea strung out a 0-0 draw that was probably a fair result all things considered.
Both defences canceled out one another’s attacks and the midfield battle was well contested.
They definitely could’ve done with some extra firepower, with David De Gea hardly troubled all afternoon.
Abraham’s name was nowhere to be seen when the team sheets were released prior to kick off, neither in the Blues starting XI or on their substitute bench.
Tuchel was quizzed in his post-match press conference as to why the 23-year-old had been omitted entirely.
“We can only nominate 18 players plus the goalkeeper,” explained Tuchel.
“It was a hard decision. It was about judging the alternatives we had.
“We opted for Oli (Giroud) to start. We had Timo (Werner) on the bench.
“We had Kai (Havertz) who can play as a no.9. So, there was no need to bring a fourth no.9 to the pitch.”
This decision left many Blues fans absolutely baffled.
Many noticed that Tuchel had picked three left-backs in Ben Chilwell, Marcos Alonso and Emerson Palmieri over Abraham.
The young forward has started just four out of the past nine matches for Chelsea’s new manager.
Whether or not Abraham will be reincluded for the Blues trip to Anfield on Thursday is yet to be seen.
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I certainly raised an eyebrow when Abraham’s number wasn’t even on the bench against United.
Tuchel is clearly taking no prisoners at Chelsea and perhaps he didn’t see enough on the training ground to include him.
Perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into this. Or maybe these are worrying signs for the young forward.