Thomas Tuchel is finding it hard to understand the ruling allowing only three substitutes in the Premier League, particularly in view of the tight festive schedule and with Covid rearing its sinister head and ruling out an increasing number of players in recent weeks.
While the German tactician says he enjoys the hectic period on the calendar, he is still unable to get his head around why the amount of subtitutes is fewer in England than across Europe when the schedule is so much busier in the Premier League than elsewhere.
Chelsea will be back in action on Wednesday night against Brighton after travelling to Aston Villa on Sunday and they will then host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge this Sunday. Also, with the two-legged League Cup semi-final against Tottenham coming up in January it is understandably a tiring time for the Blues.
‘We love the schedule and we love to play through winter and be the only league to play through the winter, but we need also protection from the league,’ Tuchel told the official Chelsea website.
‘I can absolutely not understand zero per cent why we are the only league that plays through the winter and we are the only league with three substitutes in a period of heavy Covid threat and heavy Covid situations.
‘I’m heavily concerned and I don’t understand why we have only three substitutes. That makes absolutely no sense but it’s a situation so it is worrying that we struggle and we have injuries and we have players who suffered from Covid, and we have no time to build them up.
‘So obviously we are in the middle of a very strange situation where all teams are affected heavily and I simply don’t understand why we cannot have the five changes because five changes have been invented also in UK now when coronavirus first started.
‘We are now in the middle of it and simply I get the feeling that everybody’s refusing it or not even thinking about it or refusing to think about it.
‘For me it is logical to do this because everybody is affected by Covid and you simply need more possibilities to protect the players and to share the minutes. It is my opinion, and I will not stop to stand up for it.’