Graham Potter explains early substitution in Chelsea 1-1 Man Utd

Graham Potter has explained his decision to bring Mateo Kovacic on for Marc Cucurella inside 36 minutes of Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Man Utd, stating that the substitution was needed as the Blues were being overrun in midfield.

Chelsea were largely outplayed in the opening 30 minutes of the clash at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening, with the quality of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen causing particular problems. Noticing this, Potter was forced into an early tactical tweak in order to quell this threat.

After bringing on an extra body in midfield the Blues looked much more in control, and took the lead through a Jorginho penalty before being pegged back by a last minute equaliser.

Speaking after the game to the club's official website, Potter explained the early changes: "The first 20 minutes I think Manchester United were better and forced us back. We had to adjust a little bit there, try to get another player into the midfield and put a little bit more pressure on them. They were building their attacks too easily and driving us back.

"The sense of the game was that we were getting overrun a little bit in the midfield, we needed an extra player in there to create a bit more pressure, to stop them building their attacks and therefore making it harder to build ours. So it was just a feeling that I had.

"It’s not an easy decision to make at all but the boys responded really well and they gave everything.

"So we just had to adjust that and from that point I thought we did well in the game. We’re disappointed of course to concede late but over the course of the game I think a point’s about right for us. I don’t think we can particularly sit here and say we deserved to win.

"We didn’t do enough to win the game I don’t think but effort-wise what the boys put in was amazing, it was fantastic from our players and I’m very proud of them for that."