David Wagner has explained exactly why Alex Pritchard did not get into the action against Crystal Palace.
Many fans were surprised the 25-year-old midfielder did not start in the 1-0 defeat, and even more so that he wasn’t used as a substitute.
The head coach opted, instead, to replaced Elias Kachunga with Adama Diakhaby and then make a double substitution, with Laurent Depoitre and Isaac Mbenza replacing Mathias Jorgensen and Rajiv van La Parra in a reshuffle for the closing stages.
“We made it clear this is exactly what we wanted to avoid – playing centrally,” said Wagner, whose side went down to a fine strike by Wilfried Zaha in the 38th minute.
“This is where Crystal Palace are very aggressive and they are very good in the transition, so you shouldn’t play in that area, centrally.
“As everybody knows, Pritchy is a player who likes to play centrally and likes to take the ball in the central position between the lines.
“But this is exactly where Crystal Palace are very strong.”
Wagner added: “We thought, and I think we have seen, that we could maybe hurt them on the wings with overlapping and underlapping, with crosses on the wings and diagonal balls – not centrally.
“This was our game plan and, unfortunately for Pritchy, it wasn’t our game plan to play centrally and inbetween the lines, where he can use his back-foot turns and his ability.
“We wanted to bring the ball wide with diagonal balls, or with our wing-backs and then cross the ball – and I think everyone saw the players did it very well and created some moments.
“But this is exactly the tactical reason Pritchy wasn’t involved.”
Town are next in action at Leicester City on Saturday, where they will be looking for a first win of the season.
