As German as it gets: Tuchel substituted the player after 30 minutes

Chelsea manager wants to win and he wants to win now. And if it means that he risks the dressing room atmosphere, then so be it. Thomas Tuchel made an unusual gesture during a disappointing 1-1 draw with Southampton and substituted young Callum Hudson-Odoi in the 76th minute, after bringing him on at halftime.

The reason? He didn’t like his attitude and energy. German tactician obviously wants to make his point to the famous Chelsea dressing room and the young player and a future star was a good target for Tuchel.

„Everybody needs to understand that sometimes I make the decisions to win games. It’s not a problem that he makes mistakes or has a bad game or does a miss. We cannot lack energy, 10 percent or five percent, it is not possible. I know what he can give and that is why I trust him and that will not change. He knows exactly what I expect from him and maybe when he does not reach that level there is a hard decision like this. But there is no need to think in old-fashioned terms that this is the worst thing that can ever happen. No. it happened today and by tomorrow it is over and maybe he starts again against Atletico Madrid (in the Champions League on Tuesday) if we need his qualities. This is the next step for him. He was in trouble when he comes from the bench like this against Sheffield United, he was again today. So it is on him to improve because we need him for some games on the bench. He needs to learn from it, so no problem“ explained Tuchel his odd decision after the match.

But will this decision have its counter-reaction in the dressing room? We will see in the next 48 hours, according to former Chelsea player, now a TV pundit, Joe Cole. Former England international was questioning Tuchel's decision on the eve of a very important Champions League match with Atletico Madrid.

„It's a gamble because notoriously the Chelsea dressing-room can be fragmented with the number of changes they've had. So I just question whether it was necessary at the time to upset a player that's maybe going to play for your Tuesday night. Maybe he's a managerial genius, Callum starts on Tuesday night and gives the performance of his life. But he's a fantastic young player that will be fuming with that. Tuchel's took that decision and I do think it might be a message to his team. You live and die by your messages so how the dressing room reacts to it will be interesting. It's bold, you don't see managers doing it that early on“ explained Cole to BT Sports.

With Southampton in a bad form, everybody was expecting a clear Chelsea win, but the Blues just couldn’t materialize their high possession, and Tuchel was aware of this.

„For the first 80metres of the pitch, we were clearly good, for the last 20 meters, no. We made lots of space for last passes but our decision-making and determination was not good enough“ said Tuchel.

The German tactician knows he is expecting a tough match with Atletico in the Champions League and cannot afford a display like this against La Liga leaders. Did his motivation tactics work? We will find out on Tuesday.