“We had a back five and felt we should go to a 4-4-1 and keep Kai” – Graham Potter explains why he didn’t play Aubameyang in 2-1 defeat to Fulham
Graham Potter, the manager of Chelsea, has provided an explanation for his decision to bench Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang during Thursday night’s 2-1 loss to Fulham.
With 11 minutes left, Chelsea was down 2-1. Potter decided to make four substitutions to try to assist Chelsea score an equalizer, but Aubameyang, who had been on the bench due to a back ailment, remained on the sidelines as a substitute.
Potter responded, “We had a back five and believed we should go to a 4-4-1 and keep Kai on because I felt he was leading the line and winning challenges and duels. This is why I decided against bringing on Aubameyang.
“You know you’re going to get driven back a little, so we wanted to use Conor [Gallagher] to break from the center and Hakim [Ziyech] and Carney [Chukwuemeka] to break from wide,” said Conor Ziyech. Therefore, that was the thought.