Enzo Maresca explains why he substituted off Chelsea youngster Josh Acheampong at half-time vs Copenhagen
Chelsea booked their place in the Conference League quarter-finals by overcoming Copenhagen on Thursday night, but it must’ve been mixed emotions for Blues youngster Josh Acheampong.
The Blues beat Copenhagen by a 1-0 scoreline at Stamford Bridge, which gave them a 3-1 aggregate victory in the last-16 tie.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was the match-winner with his superb individual goal in the second-half. Joe Cole hailed Dewsbury-Hall after another eye-catching European performance from him this season.
Next, Enzo Maresca’s side will face Legia Warsaw in the quarter-finals of the Conference League.
For Chelsea youngster Josh Acheampong, it was great to see the defender named in the starting line-up on Thursday. He played in a different role as the team’s left-back, though.
The 18-year-old academy graduate was actually removed at half-time, which is never a nice feeling for a player.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca explains early Josh Acheampong substitution vs Copenhagen
Enzo Maresca, the Chelsea manager, watched his side put in a dull first-half display against Copenhagen, failing to register a single attempt at goal.
Therefore, it wasn’t a great surprise to see the Blues head coach make changes at half-time, including replacing Acheampong for Marc Cucurella at full-back.
Speaking in his post-match interview, Maresca insisted that the decision to take off Acheampong was purely a tactical one and the teenager was playing well.
Maresca said via Chelsea’s official website: “We changed Josh Acheampong not because he was not doing well – he was doing very good the first time he was doing a different job – but because we needed to change the structure. You need patience. We were attacking with five players and we needed to attack with six.”
Even though Chelsea were pretty diabolical in the opening 45 minutes versus Copenhagen, Acheampong at least showed some positive moments in and out of possession.
He’s a lot more comfortable playing at right-back or as the central defender, so people shouldn’t be overly critical of his display as the left-back who was asked to invert into midfield.
| Minutes played | Accurate passes | Blocks | Fouls committed | Recoveries | Dribbled past | Match rating |
| 45 | 17/19 (89%) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5.9 |
Tosin Adarabioyo massively rates Acheampong as he’s someone he tipped to have a massive future.
Our advice for the Cobham product is to quickly forget about the Copenhagen fixture and move.
Josh Acheampong is being treated harshly
Acheampong was rightly welcomed into Chelsea’s first-team dressing room on a permanent basis earlier in the season after stepping up from the Under-21s, but the way he’s been treated recently does feel harsh.
The youngster’s start against Copenhagen was his first start for the Blues since 14 January at home to Bournemouth. During that time, he’s spent most of it watching from the bench.
Malo Gusto is hardly pulling up any trees at right-back, while Reece James is viewed as a midfielder by the manager.
If Acheampong gets some regular minutes at right-back, we’re confident we’ll see the best of him. It’s a much better option than shoehorning a centre-back such as Trevoh Chalobah into the role.
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