Former England star says it was strange for Tuchel to star James as a centre back

Former English goalkeeper Paul Robinson has reacted to Thomas Tuchel’s decision to start Reece James as a centre back against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup over the weekend.

James was known to play as a right wing-back for England and Chelsea.

But there was an unexpected change during the Blues’ 2-0 FA Cup semi-final win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

This comes as Tuchel deployed him to the centre-back position instead as he paired him with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.

Robinson in his recent statement, has now called on Tuchel to reinstate the 22-year-old’s to his natural position.

Speaking to Football Insider, he said: “It is a strange one because he[James] gives you so much going forward.

“What he gives you in regards to his delivery, dribbling and range of passing far outweighs what you get from him at centre-half.

“The only rationale I can think of is that Tuchel possibly doesn’t think Azpilicueta is physical enough to be a centre-half in that game.

“There was going to be an aerial threat from Palace and maybe Tuchel took that into consideration.”