Antonio Conte said he waited so long to make changes against Manchester City because he hoped Eden Hazard could conjure something up for Chelsea.
The Blues were beaten 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium, where runaway Premier League leaders City completely outclassed them.
Boss Conte waited until 11 minutes from time to make his first substitution, replacing Willian with Olivier Giroud, while Alvaro Morata did not come on for Hazard until the 89th minute.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Conte said: “I tried to do something with the substitutions.
“But for sure when we decided to play with Pedro, Hazard and Willian there is a difficulty to have the players to change the game. It’s difficult to keep the balance of last season.
“We need the balance. I think Pedro and Willian had a fantastic game.
“I waited because you hope a player like Hazard can invent something.
“We were unlucky in this aspect. I decided to do this a bit late but against Manchester United I did it before with Hazard and it didn’t change.”
Conte’s defensive tactics have attracted much criticism.
Chelsea got men behind the ball and posed very little attacking threat throughout.
But the Italian insisted: “When you play against City you have to use your head, otherwise you lose in a bad way.”