Boehly ‘told Tuchel to play 4-4-3’ with TWELVE men says Ferdinand as he claims Chelsea owner tried to force Mendy out
MANCHESTER UNITED legend Rio Ferdinand has hit out at Chelsea owner Todd Boehly for trying to do "too much".
The Old Trafford hero claims American businessman Boehly attempted to interfere with coaching while Thomas Tuchel was at the club.
The German was brutally sacked last week, before quickly being replaced by Graham Potter.
And Ferdinand, who interviewed Tuchel just days before he was axed, criticised Boehly today for being too hands-on.
Reports from claim Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali had drawn up a '4-4-3' formation using 11 outfield players, something Chelsea have denied.
But Ferdinand told his YouTube channel: "There's hands on and there's too much. From what I hear they were getting their noses too much into the tactical and technical things that would normally be left to a manager."
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When asked about reports suggesting Boehly asked to play a mistaken '4-4-3' with an extra player, Ferdinand said: "They're the kind of stories that I'm hearing as well.
"I've heard those stories, they're trying to influence even player selection and when you get to that point you can start to understand why a manager would have some pushback.
"Tuchel, the personality and character he is, he wouldn't have accepted that, some other characters will do as new owners say but Thomas Tuchel isn't that guy.
"Why let him have the money if you knew you were always going to get rid of him?"
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Ferdinand also went on to suggest Boehly had discussed forcing some players out, one of which he believed would be goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The stopper has come under fire at times for his performances this season.
And Ferdinand continued: "There are a lot of wild opinions being said behind the scenes with formations and with certain individual players that the new ownership want out of the team.
"I think [Edouard] Mendy would have been one of them in terms of kicking the ball and his distribution and talking about tactical things."
"I don't know if an owner should even be talking about stuff like that, the manager is there to deal with that."
