TUCHEL’S TOUGH LOVE PAYING OFF
Callum benefits from rants
TISSUES at the ready. This one is a weepy. It was confession time.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel admitted he might have been a bit hard on Callum Hudson-Odoi.
But the 20-year-old winger said everything was fine by him.
The only ones crying at the end of this romp were poor Norwich.
It was Hudson-Odoi, so often on the fringes at Chelsea, who destroyed the Canaries with a fine goal, a sublime assist and another effort that was deflected in.
Mason Mount, below, may have grabbed a hat-trick but this was all about the winger once coveted so publicly by Bayern Munich.
Before the game Tuchel insisted there could only be a turning point in his career if he could turn it on for 250 games in a row.
A bit harsh that, and after an excellent display from the Chelsea academy product in only his third league start of the season, Tuchel was asked if he was too hard on Hudson-Odoi.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said, having also been seen yelling at him from the sidelines.
“But he needs that. These guys hear a bit too often how good they are. You need to prove it, show it, deliver assists and goals.
This is what he does and what he needs to show.
“Hopefully, we are not unfair.
We are tough on Callum because it is not enough with this talent to only be a part of the group.
“We think we have found a way to push him to the limits but this can change week to week.”
Hudson-Odoi said: “I wouldn’t say the manager is hard to please.
You have to prove it to yourself. Every game you have to show yourself, show how capable you are, show consistency, show that you are worthy of playing.
“The manager said to keep working hard, going forward, being direct, be myself, try to create, try to score, be decisive in the box. It was good instructions he gave to me – very influential.”
Last season in a 1-1 draw at Southampton, Tuchel threw Hudson-Odoi on as a substitute and then took him off soon after.
The winger said: “You don’t know what you have done wrong but you have to keep your head, keep going, keep fighting for your position. That’s what I have done.”
The goals rained in. Mount got the first after a Hudson-Odoi cross.
The winger grabbed the second before Reece James and Ben Chilwell netted.
Max Aarons sliced Hudson-Odoi’s centre into his own net before Norwich’s Ben Gibson was sent off and Mount’s penalty and a tap-in sealed the Canaries’ fate.