Saul Niguez Chelsea
Thomas Tuchel has admitted Saul Niguez is having a few struggles at Chelsea after the Spaniard had another rough night off the bench in the midweek draw with Everton. Tuchel was asked about Saul’s struggles in SW6 at his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the Wolves game and the head coach explained, fairly, that Saul has been played out of position a lot in his short time at the club, varying from central midfield to left wing-back against Zenit to even a number nine at times versus Everton.
Thomas Tuchel said: “For Saul, does he feel the same that he is absolutely the same role and responsibility as he had at Atletico? No, maybe not yet. Does he struggle? Yes, he struggles. Was he the first player to struggle in the Premier League? No and he won’t be the last one. We protect our players and I will protect our players always. He played [Thursday] as a number six, number nine and as a wing-back. Is that fair to him? No, also it is not. Put it into context and you will have a more moderate picture and reaction. I understand people are disappointed after yesterday [Thursday] but reactions like this are the reasons why I am not involved on social media. It is why I protect myself and you can get carried away. I can only hope Saul does not read it and why should he? He knows what he needs to do to improve and he is doing everything. He struggles at the moment and we are still trying to find the best version of him and will not stop pushing.”
With Chelsea allowing Conor Gallagher and Billy Gilmour to head out on loan, brining in Saul as a replacement, hindsight has shown it might not have been the right call from the club. Chelsea’s injury crisis in midfield hasn’t helped matters either. Gallagher is excelling away at Crystal Palace and was called up to the England senior side for the first time last month while Gilmour, after a slow start, has shown his Premier League credentials after Dean Smith replaced Daniel Farke at the helm at Norwich.
Thomas Tuchel said: “We talked about why we took the decision for Conor. We looked at our midfield with N’Golo Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic. Conor was considered the number four. He knew this all. The way that we loved and appreciated but the opportunity came up where he could see more minutes, more responsibility, Would he be the same Conor if he had stayed? Obviously not because the situation would have been different and maybe the same people would say how can they rely on Conor Gallagher. He maybe would have only played once in weeks if Mateo [Kovacic] had not been injured. You cannot go back to these decisions. They are made for the club and for the player. We need everybody agreed on it. It is obviously a good decision because Conor is playing so well and everybody is happy. He is doing well because he is playing every single game and he know how important he is to this team of Crystal Palace. That’s a huge part of being at the best level you can be.”
