- 10 hours ago
‘It’s not personal’ – Tuchel defends decision to drop Abraham from Chelsea squad
Stefan Bienkowski
- Updated: 22 May 2021 14:09 BST
- 5 min read
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has stated that his decision to drop Tammy Abraham from his squad for the FA Cup final was “not personal”.
While the Stamford Bridge side have enjoyed an incredible uptick in performances under their new manager, it has also meant a notable change in personnel in the starting XI each week.
However, few players have struggled to impress their new manager quite as much as Abraham, who has started just three games since Tuchel started calling the shots at the Premier League side.
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Indeed, Tuchel’s decision to show a clear preference for Timo Werner and Kai Havertz as his No.9 options has led to Abraham being overlooked for most of Chelsea’s games over the last four months.
That seemingly came to a head at the weekend, when Tuchel decided to drop the player entirely from his matchday squad to face Leicester City in the FA Cup final.
However, when asked about his decision, the Chelsea manager was quick to point out that his young striker wasn’t at fault for being dropped.
‘I understand Abraham’s frustration and it wasn’t the first time’
“It’s just the amount of people I can nominate for a game,” said the Chelsea manager in a press conference on Monday.
“I decided to start with Timo [Werner] as the nine and we had Ollie [Giroud] and Kai [Havertz] who can play as a nine.
“It’s not personal. Kova wasn’t in the squad and when he comes back maybe I have to eliminate Andreas Christensen because of the number of players.
“Everyone deserves to be in the squad. I understand his frustration and it wasn’t the first time.
“We have other guys in the same situation. This isn’t the moment to complain and explain too much.
“It’s the moment to live in the moment as these are the decisive to weeks of the season.”
