Callum Hudson-Odoi shows Chelsea needn't be so reliant on Christian Pulisic
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Updated 28/10/2020 at 20:34 GMT
The 19-year-old, along with Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech, all found the net in a 4-0 away win over Krasnodar for the Blues. Frank Lampard still hasn't settled on his best attack, but Callum Hudson-Odoi proved in Russia why he shouldn't be forgotten about. He gives Chelsea a different option.
Chelsea's English midfielder Callum Hudson-Odoi shoots to score the opening goal during the UEFA Champions League football match between Krasnodar and Chelsea at the Krasnodar stadium in Krasnodar on October 28, 2020.
Image credit: Getty Images
The gaze of the Chelsea support was surely trained on Hakim Ziyech more than any other player as the Blues faced their first Champions League away day of the season. Handed his first start for the club against Krasnodar, the Moroccan offered a glimpse of what he will offer Frank Lampard once he finds form and fitness.
Once the game started in Russia, though, Chelsea fans might have found themselves fixed on the left wing rather than the right. It was on this flank that Callum Hudson-Odoi was deployed, with the 19-year-old scoring the opening goal of the contest towards the end of the first half.
There was an undeniable element of good fortune to Hudson-Odoi’s finish, as promising young goalkeeper Matvei Safonov allowed the shot to squirm through his arms, but the teenager’s performance as a whole was about more than just a lucky goal. He might just have proved a point to Frank Lampard.
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Chelsea's English midfielder Callum Hudson-Odoi celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during the UEFA Champions League football match between Krasnodar and Chelsea at the Krasnodar stadium in Krasnodar on October 28, 2020.
Image credit: Getty Images
Chelsea are awash with attacking options following their summer spending spree which saw Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Ziyech all added to the squad. Yet despite all these options, the Blues have grown dependent on Christian Pulisic down the left. While Lampard has still to shape the rest of his frontline this season, the left wing role has been nailed down by the American.
Even in his absence through a hamstring injury picked up in last season’s FA Cup final, Pulisic has grown in stature. Signed as a direct replacement for Eden Hazard last year, the 22-year-old is a very different sort of threat, but just like the Belgian in his Chelsea days, Pulisic has become the dynamo through which so many of the Blues’ threats flow.
Lampard has been guilty of leaning too heavily on Pulisic, perhaps contributing to his breakdown at the end of last season, and it is a habit that has continued since the American's return from injury. Hudson-Odoi’s display in Russia, however, proved to the Blues boss that he needn’t run Pulisic into the ground. At the very least, the 19-year-old gives Chelsea a useful rotation option.
Hudson-Odoi might not be satisfied with merely being a rotation option in the long-term, particularly with Bayern Munich reportedly still interested in taking the teenager to Bavaria, but for the time being he appears to have a clear role at Stamford Bridge. If ever there was a season for Chelsea to have a number of interchangeable attackers to ease some of the lead on each other, it’s this one.
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Callum Hudson-Odoi of Chelsea celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Champions League Group E stage match between FC Krasnodar and Chelsea FC at Krasnodar Stadium on October 28, 2020 in Krasnodar,
Image credit: Getty Images
The introduction of Pulisic off the bench with 20 minutes to go against Krasnodar proved Chelsea are still at their most dangerous with the American on the pitch. There was quite simply more conviction in the Blues’ final third play once Pulisic got involved, scoring three more to add some real gloss to the scoreline.
With every passing match, Lampard gets a little closer to gaining a full picture of his team. Position-by-position, questions are being answered. Edouard Mendy made a number of solid saves to underline his status as Chelsea’s new first choice goalkeeper, while Werner impressed again as the apex of the Blues’ attack, whether it’s through the middle or off the left with Tammy Abraham as the number nine.
Ziyech also proved his worth, justifying the gaze on him from the start, scoring Chelsea’s third goal and providing a threat throughout. While Havertz, Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic and Werner are all forwards defined by their physicality and their forcefulness in getting into attacking positions, the former Ajax man adds some guile to the equation.
This was a match that highlighted the sheer strength and variance of Chelsea’s options in the final third, but it was Hudson-Odoi who, in Pulisic’s place, showed Lampard something he possibly hadn’t seen before.
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