“Had his chance”- Tuchel reveals why 27-year-old playmaker missed pre-season friendly vs Spurs

Thomas Tuchel explains Ross Barkley absence against Tottenham

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel went on to explain why Ross Barkley was not present in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham (h/t Metro). It seems to be a simple case of non-selection as Tuchel wanted to rotate his options for the game as Barkley had already featured against Arsenal.

Thomas Tuchel has a problem of plenty at Chelsea. That was the case last season as well but it has been compounded by the fact that all the loaned out players have now returned to the side over the summer. Chelsea have been able to offload some names over the summer though, with the likes of Olivier Giroud, Fikayo Tomori, Victor Moses and a few others leaving on permanent deals.

Despite those sales, Chelsea still have too many names in their squad. Thomas Tuchel has been trying his level best to integrate most of the fringe players and youngsters into the side over these friendlies. Ross Barkley is among those returning from loan and has been a part of the pre-season that is going on.

Barkley missed the draw over Spurs

Nonetheless, Barkley featured in the win over Arsenal. Questions were naturally asked as the player was subsequently missing against Spurs. Tuchel clarified the same post-match.

“It was a non-selection. After the Arsenal game, we wrote all the names down [of the players] on a sheet as on Monday the final group of players came back from England, Italy and Brazil. We wrote the names down and had 42 players in the building, that’s just not possible. So from then on we had to take some decisions to provide quality and intelligent training for the three groups who belong to us. And at the same time to select players we want to know better. Ross had his chance to play one half against Arsenal, the same as Danny Drinkwater.”

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Tuchel went on to add that Barkley featured against Peterborough and Bournemouth which gave him an idea of the player. It is perhaps understandable that a few players might be absent from some of the games during this pre-season. Not everyone can feature in every game and with Barkley already getting some minutes, others were accorded their chance in the Spurs fixture.