Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Confronted with the Covid outburst in his squad on one side, and the refusal by the FA to reschedule the match, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel had no option but to promote 11 U-23 players from the academy, in order to have enough available players. The quarter-final game against Brentford is coming up, and the German tactician wants to win and somehow get out of this recent performance crisis. The Blues have only two wins in the last six Premier League games, as they lost to West Ham, and had three draws, and only one of those games ended without at least one goal in Chelsea’s net. Thomas Tuchel wants to WIN the Carabao Cup 🏆 pic.twitter.com/uA9dP1WqjG— Chelsea FC News (@Chelsea_FL) December 22, 2021 For this game against Brentford, Tuchel will still be without some key players due to Covid, or injuries. And while Chelsea suffers because it’s players don’t want to be jabbed, the German still doesn’t want to judge anybody. „I don’t want to get involved in pointing fingers and starting the hunt for non-vaccinated people. This is a choice to make. I can have an opinion but a player can also have an opinion. We cannot force people to get vaccinated and I will not change my opinion on that. I am vaccinated. I took the decision for me and that’s it. I am not the guy to comment, I am not the expert here. I would like to play us right now. We have to protect our players and their health. That is why we brought in the academy. It is no secret and we think about playing with them“ said Chelsea boss. Para pemain Chelsea yang absen di laga vs Brentford dini hari nanti :❌ Lukaku (Covid)❌ Werner (Covid)❌ Hudson Odoi (Covid)❌ Havertz (Covid)❌ Chilwell (Covid)❌ Christensen (Injury)❌ Loftus-Cheek (Injury)❌ Chalobah (Injury)❌ Kante (Rest)Tetap main.. 😊💪 pic.twitter.com/9XsvwNCVYL— Extra Time Indonesia (@idextratime) December 22, 2021 Tuchel is totally opposite to his fellow countrymen Jurgen Klopp, who is way more active in promoting vaccination among players, or Wolves boss Bruno Lange, whose team is 100% vaccinated. Klopp even admits he will think twice if he has to sign an unvaccinated player. „We are not close to signing a player but, yes, it would be influential, definitely. If a player is not vaccinated at all, he is a constant threat for all of us. He doesn’t want to be a threat, of course, it is not that he thinks, ‘Oh my God, I don’t care about the others,’ but he is and we have to find different scenarios. He has to change in a different dressing room, he has to eat in a different dining room, he has to sit in a different bus, he has to drive in a different car“ said Klopp. And since Tuchel doesn’t want to change his mind about the issue, he will have field some of his youth players in tonight’s game. Out of those 11 U-23 players, Xavier Mbuyamba has the biggest chance to start the game. Carabao Cup regulars Kepa, Malang Sarr and Ross Barkley should come in, while Mateo Kovacic came back from a two months injury and probably won’t be risked from the first minute. Harvey Vale has been involved in Champions League squads for the Blues this season but yet to taste any match time, and today will probably be that time. Alongside Vale there will be Xavier Mbuyamba, a Chelsea’s version of Virgin van Dijk. The 19-year old Dutch is strong in the air and comfortable with the ball at his feet, encouraging attributes which earned him a place in the senior matchday squad for their Carabao Cup win over Aston Villa back in September.Willian admits he wanted to quit Arsenal after only three monthsBrentford have not played for nearly two weeks and closed their training ground for six days to break the cycle of infection. They came back on Monday with three players ruled out for Covid reasons as they plot a cup upset.„It’s a quarter-final, a London derby under the floodlights, close to making maybe a little Christmas miracle. What’s not to like? We should go out and attack with our fans behind us. We reached the semi-finals last year and to do it again would be a massive statement“ said Brentford boss Thomas Frank. If they can make an upset over Chelsea, now is the time.
