Mount rescues point as boss Tuchel gets tough Dean in the firing line yet again
CHELSEA boss Thomas Tuchel lashed out at Callum Hudson-Odoi’s ‘attitude’ after hauling off the England forward during a frustrating draw at Southampton.
Hudson-Odoi was sent on after half-time to replace Tammy Abraham, who had picked up another ankle problem.
But Blues boss Tuchel hooked the 20-year-old after just 31 minutes of the second half, sending on Hakim Ziyech for the closing stages.
Mason Mount rescued a point from the penalty spot for Chelsea by cancelling out Takumi Minamino’s opener. Asked about Hudson-Odoi,
Tuchel said: ‘It was not injury-related. I was not happy with his attitude, energy and counter-pressing.
‘When it’s hard to create chances, you need to rely on counter-pressing to force maybe errors, to get a second ball and get an easy chance.
‘For that we must be totally on and totally showing for counter-pressing. I did not feel this from Callum today.
‘He missed some opportunities for counter-pressing, he missed some easy balls. I had the feeling he was never really into the game.
‘You know that I trust him a lot because he plays every game for us. I don’t know, maybe it was even unfair, but I did not get the feeling today that I normally get from him that he can be decisive.
‘It’s a hard decision today but nothing that will stick between us or stick for long. Tomorrow it’s forgotten and we prepare for Atletico Madrid (who Chelsea play in the Champions League in midweek).’
Minamino struck a fine goal after latching onto Nathan Redmond’s pass to put Saints ahead against the run of play after 33 minutes.
Mount slotted home a penalty to rescue a point on 54 minutes after he was upended by Danny Ings in the box. However, the visitors could not find a winner and Saints ended a six-game Premier League losing run.
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said: ‘This result gives us a lift mentally, because we didn’t get what we deserved in the last few weeks.
‘To take a point against Chelsea is not easy but a few parts of our game were very good today.
‘The goal was exactly what we are trying to do, beautifully played.’
ALL referee Mike Dean would have wanted on his Premier League return after having faced death threats was a quiet afternoon at Turf Moor without any major decisions to make.
Unfortunately, football doesn’t work like that and inevitably the official was centre of attention again as two struggling teams battled in blustery conditions.
Dean has had a rough time recently and missed last weekend’s games after showing red cards to Jan Bednarek and Tomas Soucek resulted in unacceptable abuse for him and his family.
The last thing he needed was for Conor Gallagher’s loose pass to allow Burnley’s Matej Vydra a run on goal and for his flick past last defender Semi Ajayi to hit the Albion defender on the hand 40 yeards from goal in the first half.
Dean didn’t blow but Stockley Park asked him to look at the monitor. Dean swiftly sent him off.
To the Baggies’ credit, the 10 men made the better of the few chances but failed to close the gap on the Clarets.
West Brom boss Sam Allardyce said: ‘We really should have won the game.’