Enzo Maresca reflected on creating consistency in selection and results at Chelsea.
The Blues were defeated 2-1 by **Man United**and 3-1 by **Brighton**in September, going life and death with **Lincoln City**in the third round of the Carabao Cup. They then escaped with a 3-0 victory at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest, and suffered a last gasp 2-1 defeat to Sunderland.
The first two losses featured red cards for **Robert Sanchez**and Trevoh Chalobah, **Wesley Fofana**was concussed by a nervous Filip Jorgensen in the previous round of the cup, and scrutiny has been heavy on Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo about the winner from Chemsdine Talbi on the weekend.
Without Levi Colwill, who sits on the sidelines due to an ACL injury, **Chelsea**continue to mix and match partnerships in central defence. Consistency is key, but Maresca feels his hand has been forced.
*“You need consistency if you want to have a good season. After four wins in a row, unfortunately we dropped points against Sunderland. But now we move on and we focus on tomorrow's game.*
“The reason why we are trying to rotate is because, first of all, we also need to manage players.
“*Wesley Fofana**, who is back from injury, Benoit Badiashile, unfortunate that he's injured again, but we try to manage him. Then we are tossing that this season, the other problem, Josh Acheampong, Trevoh Chalobah, we are trying to rotate a little bit for many reasons.*
“In the moment that you are choosing a defender, for instance, last season we played five or six months with Wes, the first five or six months. It's good because they can, you know, the combination, they can go together, but in this moment we are trying to rotate, and for sure, slowly, we get better. .
“ Consistency is always better in any aspect, for players, for the team, for anyone.”