Frank Lampard believes his decision to bring on 18-year-old Billy Gilmour during Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Sheffield United was not a 'bold' decision.
The Blues were leading late in the game at Stamford Bridge when Lampard brought on the young Scot for his Premier League debut in place of Mateo Kovacic.
Lampard also brought on Michy Batshuayi in place of Tammy Abraham at the same time, even though the striker had netted a brace earlier in the game.
The Blues boss has had some criticism from Blues supporters over the decisions, with a late Kurt Zouma own goal meaning that they dropped two points and sit ninth in the table.
However, Lampard insists there was nothing out of the ordinary about his substitutions and that he was down to necessity more than anything.
"It wasn’t bold because it was one for one in both positions," Lampard said.
"Kovacic was on his haunches, tired, Billy Gilmour is a midfield player I have on the bench and Batshuayi on to bring some energy for Tammy, who had been our best player, clearly, in the game.
"Other people can make what they want for that, but we were trying to see the game out."
“I have faith in Billy coming through, I think he is going to have a big future. But we obviously have an injury with N’Golo, we all know he is a fantastic player for us. Billy is on the bench, as simple as that. We know we have a ban, the squad is what the squad is.
“If you want to talk midfield players we have got Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante, Mount, Barkley, Reece James coming back from injury who can play in midfield, Andreas Christensen who can play in midfield, I have to make decisions on the squad as a whole, that is my job."
