Thomas Tuchel hooked Jude Bellingham to spare the England talisman a red card during Monday night’s 3-0 coast against Latvia.
A stunning Reece James free kick illuminated the World Cup qualifier, with Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze both adding gloss after Bellingham’s substitution.
Tuchel admitted that the Real Madrid midfielder was ‘a bit lucky’ not to see a second yellow card for sliding in late on Raivis Jurkovskis.
‘It would have flipped the game upside down so we decided to take him out straight away,’ Tuchel said.
‘I didn’t want to take the risk so took him off. I don’t know if he was fortunate. I thought the first one was a bit harsh. The second one was possible. Was the first yellow a yellow? I’m not so sure.
‘We had some nasty fouls from the opponent but the referee decided to look away. It felt a bit strange that we went into half-time with a yellow card and none of our opponents, but OK.
‘You could see today the huge effort Jude put in in the first game [against Albania]. He did not feel so fresh, that was my observation, and I’m not sure if he will agree.’
Kane revealed that James had been pinging free kicks past England’s goalkeepers during training at Spurs on Sunday afternoon, with the Chelsea skipper taking out his frustration on not featuring on the international stage for two years.
‘It has been a long time, I have had a frustrating two years,’ James said. ‘I'm so happy to be called up by my country again. I saw the wall and felt I could bend it round. I was a bit surprised it hit the net.
‘Thomas Tuchel's ideas are clear. We have one objective and that starts this week right up until the World Cup.’
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has talked up the potential for James to have a future in central midfield, although Tuchel does not agree.
‘If you play a dominant match like today, he can be in the last 20 minutes a hybrid midfielder where he comes for the left or right full-back position and helps in midfield to create an overload,’ Tuchel added.
‘Once it’s an open game and a lot of transitions through midfield, I’m not sure it would suit him perfectly. There cannot be any doubt about Reece’s quality, it’s the highest level.
‘We were in close contact in the last weeks and were absolutely sure and clear that he trained for several weeks without pause. If he didn’t play, it was a choice of the club and not because he was injured. They protected him, which is fair enough, so we knew he was in good shape and in a good space mentally.’
And Tuchel was pleased with Marcus Rashford’s reaction to criticism following victory over Albania.
‘The most important thing was he showed the hunger and confidence in his ability,’ the German said. ‘We maybe lacked a little bit of the support for him. We didn’t play into his hand. Marcus was on a high level, I was happy.’