Graham Potter has spoken out on his decision to substitute Marc Cucurella in the first half of Chelsea’s draw with Manchester United.
The Blues played a 1-1 draw with the Red Devils on Saturday in the Premier League as Jorginho scored for Potter’s side, while Casemiro got his name on the scoresheet for United.
At the 36th minute, when the score was still 0-0, Cucurella was substituted as Mateo Kovacic came on to replace him.
Speaking after the match, Potter explained his decision and said: “Our sense was that we were getting overrun.
“We needed an extra player in there to create more pressure and stop them building attacks. It’s a feeling I had. It wasn’t an easy decision but the boys responded really well.
“[Kovacic] has been nursing his knee all season pretty much and you look at the schedule, it’s impossible for him to start all the games. We’ve planned for him to have less time but things have conspired against us.”
Potter added: “Manchester United were better than us for the first 30 minutes. We had to respond and I felt we did that. It wasn’t from a lack of trying. The boys gave everything.
“A really fighting performance from us, we improved a lot after 30 minutes so we will take what we get. We couldn’t get enough control of the game in the middle.”