Thomas Tuchel has made an admission regarding Chelsea’s youngsters after several players did not feature in the first pre-season friendly against Club America.
Billy Gilmour, Tino Anjorin and Harvey Vale were not named in the squad, while Levi Colwill and Armando Broja also missed out due to injury.
The Blues came out on top, winning 2-1 in Vegas thanks to goals from Timo Werner and a late Mason Mount strike.
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After three weeks off, Chelsea are looking to build their fitness back up ahead of the new season, with the goal to challenge at the top of the Premier League once more.
When asked about their first game back, Tuchel admitted that he was happy with the physicality on play in the clash.
He said: “It was tough. First half was tough for us to create clear chances but we had one but couldn't score.
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"Second half we had more solutions and looked dangerous. It was a good first half and very good second half and we deserved to win.
“The match was almost too much, like a cold shower, when you come to this stadium against this opponent.”
Club America proved to be a tough opponent as the match in Vegas saw Chelsea build up their fitness in a competitive clash in front of a full stadium in the United States.
However, several youngsters were not involved despite training with the team in pre-season.
Tuchel continued to reveal that he felt ‘sad’ as he left several youngsters out of the squad to face Club America.
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"Everybody has a chance. I was a bit sad today because some youngsters had to be outside (the squad) due to injury or to the fact that we had too many players for two teams of twenty players that we used,” Tuchel told football.london.
“Some other players deserved to play. For example, Harvey Vale had a fantastic tournament with England Under-19s and did very well in training.”
The German continued to heap praise on Ethan Ampadu, who featured after returning from Venezia this summer following a fairly successful loan spell despite their relegation.
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He said: "Ethan did very well, I think. The position is a good position for him in the middle of the back three. He played a lot of vertical passes and did not play left to right only.
“He played through the lines with his passes and dribbles. So he was very active, and it was a good match for him. He is training well.”
Chelsea face Charlotte FC in their next pre-season match as they travel to North Carolina on Thursday as they look to add further minutes into their legs this summer.
Topics: Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel, Billy Gilmour, Harvey Vale, Football, Premier League
Nick Emms