Mauricio Pochettino has just made a very significant substitution against Man City.
His team are 1-0 up, there are 20 minutes to play and City are on the front foot, really squeezing Chelsea into their own area.
Pochettino’s response has been to take off one of his attacking players, Cole Palmer, and bring on a defender.
That means a season debut for Trevoh Chalobah. What a moment for him to return after so long out.
It also means a formation change for Chelsea, who switch to three at the back, three in the middle then Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku in attack. It should help us defend against the major width that City produce, while reducing the threat we have on the counter. We can see what the coach is thinking.
If this works out and relieves the pressure on Chelsea, expect plenty of praise for this move from the manager, who has had plenty of criticism for his in game decision before.
Not sure why you call this a “gamble”? Poch is just taking a sensible step to try and secure a result! As brilliant as he is in possession, Palmer has shown himself to be a less than adept (or even motivated!) defender on numerous occasions, so taking him off in favor of a true defender (especially on the road) is simply the intelligent move!
It never ceases to amaze me how frequently SuperFrank tries to create drama where there is none.