The Callum Hudson-Odoi wingback experiment ended at West Ham

When Thomas Tuchel arrived at Chelsea, he immediately put Callum Hudson-Odoi into a wingback position. Now, many misunderstand and believe that means he was playing as a defender. He was not. Wingbacks are basically just the players that create the most width. They can look like wingers, but also like fullbacks depending on the players around them and the situation. So, Hudson-Odoi was never a defender, he just had defensive duties.

That was enough to get many upset. Though Hudson-Odoi was finally playing, many argued to see him in his best position and then to judge him. Hudson-Odoi, by training, is more of a left winger than a right wingback as he was initially used. Eventually, injuries piled up to the point this season that Tuchel finally gave Hudson-Odoi a run of games in his preferred position. The young Englishman has done fantastically with that, but something else stood out against West Ham.

Hudson-Odoi had come on as a sub earlier in the second half. Later, Christian Pulisic came on. When Christian Pulisic came on, Callum Hudson-Odoi went to left wingback. West Ham proved it to be a disaster area for Chelsea. So much so that Hudson-Odoi as the wingback, on either flank, should be an absolute worst case scenario.

Pretty much as soon as the change happened, West Ham targeted Hudson-Odoi’s flank. Pulisic was often found too far advanced to offer any support. Antonio Rudiger was getting so far forward that he was leaving acres behind Hudson-Odoi. There were several times where the ball would go over the top and Hudson-Odoi would be alone with Thiago Silva trying to stop it. If the winger turned wingback was a slightly better defender, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered. But in almost every instance he looked clumsy and awkward.

On paper, wingback versus winger shouldn’t matter all that much in this Tuchel side. Hudson-Odoi, regardless of which he plays, is going to want to create width. But West Ham saw how easily it would be to exploit the defensive side of things. It is largely the reason Chelsea lost whatever control they had left at the end.

The attacking thrust was dulled as well. Hudson-Odoi was unable to get forward enough through all the counters to influence the attack in any real way. West Ham had him on a string coming and going and there was little he could do.

Maybe Hudson-Odoi would have been a more comfortable right wingback given that is where he had been training and playing. But this match should have revealed the apparent weaknesses involved with him on either side in the position. Playing Hudson-Odoi as a wingback was a good way to introduce him, but he is very much an attacker and should be kept in attacking roles.

If West Ham is able to read weaknesses in what Chelsea does around the back, they surely also read the weaknesses of Hudson-Odoi with defensive duties. Other teams will start to do the same if given the opportunity. They must not.