When it comes to Reece James, Chelsea supporters are even more sensitive than usual. The 23-year-old, who was recently appointed as the club’s new permanent captain, has a special place in the heart of Chelsea supporters.
A banner in the Matthew Harding Stand on Sunday afternoon, that was being held up prior to kick-off versus Liverpool, was dedicated to James, reading: ‘He’s one of our own’, as the chant goes.
James is someone that gets the club, breathes the club and loves the club. And in a summer that has seen Mason Mount leave to join Manchester United, breaking many Chelsea supporters’ hearts, that seems more significant than normal.
“Captain of Chelsea. A real honour and proud moment for me and my family,” James tweeted in an emotional post when appointed captain last week. “From the bottom of my heart I want to thank everyone that helped on the journey.
“The role is new to me but I’ll do everything to lead our club back to where we belong. Winning titles. See you at the Bridge.”
However, the last couple of seasons have not been the easiest for the England international. James has massively struggled with consistent injury problems that has seen his progress halt, forcing Chelsea to go out and sign Malo Gusto in the January transfer window to provide solid support to the talented right-back.
In fact, over the past couple of seasons, James has missed a total of 46 games in all competitions due to fitness problems. So this, coupled with the fact Pochettino demands so much from his full-backs due to the high intensity system the Argentine plays with, and it makes complete sense to why James was brought off in the second half against Liverpool.
“Because he was tired,” Pochettino said when asked why he took off James. “You need to see from where he came.
“The first thing we did when we arrived was to assess all of the players from the past. He was injured for three or four months. This pre-season was tough for him, we didn’t want to take any risk and that is why at 80 minutes, we wanted to avoid the risk.”
It is not uncommon that Pochettino took off one of his full-backs – or in this case, both of them, with Ben Chilwell making way 14 minutes after James. The Chelsea head coach has done this throughout his managerial career to ensure he has fresh legs available to him on both sides of the pitch.
We saw Chilwell especially get so high up against Liverpool. There were plenty of times Chelsea looked to switch it to the England international, who was looking to utilise the space left behind by Trent Alexander-Arnold. On another day, the Blues left-back could have had himself a hat-trick.
Not even to mention that bringing James off allows Gusto, a 20-year-old right back looking to develop at Stamford Bridge, some much-needed minutes on the pitch. A sensible decision from Pochettino in the grand scheme of things and one we could see happen a lot more during his first season with the club.
