Frank Lampard has explained his decision to replace Mateo Kovacic with Billy Gilmour for the final minutes of the Sheffield United game which ended in a 2-2 draw.
The 18-year-old midfielder has made his competitive debut for the Blues albeit it lasted for less than 10 minutes.
However, critics argue that the manager should’ve made another substitution with the game in a balance. Finally, the Blues conceded an equaliser on 89th minute.
As Lampard explained, he had no choice but to make that exact change.
“Kovacic was on his haunches and blatantly tired. Billy Gilmour is a midfield player who I had on the bench,” the boss told the press conference.
“And Michy (Batshuayi) was to bring some energy where Tammy (Abraham) had been our best player in the game clearly. Other people can make what they want with that but I wasn’t being clever at 2-1, I was trying to see the game out.
“I have faith in Billy to come though. He is going to have a big future but we have an injury to N’Golo in midfield who we all know is a fantastic player for us and Billy is on the bench, as simple as that. We have a ban and the squad is what the squad is.
“Danny Drinkwater had been here for two years and had not played many games and was eager to go for his own benefit, which I thought was good for us. Tiemoue Bakayoko similarly was here for one season and then been on loan and has gone again to be on loan to try to bring himself back to where he wants to be.”