Former Chelsea assistant manager Jody Morris was surprised by Thomas Tuchel’s decision to delay his substitutions in their 1-1 draw against Manchester United.
Despite having the majority of possession and 24 shots to United’s three, Chelsea could only come back to take a point against Michael Carrick’s side.
Jadon Sancho opened the scoring after capitalising on a Jorginho mistake before the Italy midfielder made up for his error with a well-taken penalty.
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Tuchel left it until the 78th-minute to bring on Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic for Marcos Alonso and Callum Hudson-Odoi, before bringing Romelu Lukaku on four minutes later for Timo Werner.
And Morris – who was assistant manager at Chelsea under Frank Lampard – reckons Tuchel missed the chance to win the game by not making his substitutions earlier.
Morris told Stadium Astro: “From a fan’s perspective, I would definitely have liked a couple if not all three changes at the top end of the pitch a lot earlier.
“I just felt that with the amount of dominance Chelsea had they wasn’t creating enough real good chances.
“The fact you have the level of bench that Chelsea had, there was no reason why at least two of them could have been brought on a lot earlier.
“I thought Lukaku was the perfect addition but that’s without knowing the physical capabilities he has right now. He might not have had more than the manager gave him.
“It’s always easier to say after the game but we were slightly surprised that Tuchel didn’t make changes earlier.”
After the match Tuchel praised Jorginho for showing the character to recover from his mistake to score the crucial Chelsea penalty.
“It’s very unusual for Jorgi (to make) a mistake like this, and to concede a goal like this in general for us,” said Tuchel.
“I think he misjudged the situation and I think he was heavily disturbed from the lights so he did not see the ball.
“It happened, but then it took a lot of courage and personality to not be affected during the match and to have the courage to take the penalty for the equaliser in a crucial moment. And I’m very happy that he did.
“It’s hard to imagine this as a match where you can lose or drop points, because we were the better team, who set the rhythm and intensity.
“We’re disappointed but we have no regrets, this can happen in football. I just told the team I’m happy with our performance and the way we played.”
