Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca should deliver a nine-word message to his players to avoid more "embarrassing" red cards this season, a former Blues FA Cup winner has exclusively told Sports Mole.
The Club World Cup holders managed to get through their1-0 Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspurwithout any further disciplinary concerns, but Liam Delap was absent after his dismissal in the EFL Cup win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The striker's sending-off for two bookable offences marked Chelsea's fifth red card of the season already, after Trevoh Chalobah (vs. Brighton & Hove Albion), Robert Sanchez (vs. Manchester United), Malo Gusto (vs. Nottingham Forest) and Joao Pedro (vs. Benfica) also took the walk of shame.
Only La Liga outfit Girona have picked up as many red cards in Europe's big five leagues, and former Blues midfielder Gus Poyet has branded the club's spate of sending-offs "out of this world".
“You can't put all the red cards in the same bracket," the ex-midfielder told Sports Mole. "They are different. There are a few that are individual and completely naive, difficult to understand.
Gus Poyet: 'Chelsea's five red cards are out of this world'
Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah is sent off on September 27, 2025
“But obviously you prepare as a team and as a coach to play, I would say, more than 90% of the games with 11 players. You can have one or two or three, but to have five already is out of this world. So they need to be careful now."
Chelsea navigated their first five games of the season without picking up a red card, but their five dismissals have come across their last 10 games in all tournaments, an average of one red card every two matches.
The Blues also rank highly when it comes to bookings in the 2025-26 Premier League season, having already been handed 19 yellow cards, only fewer than Bournemouth (25), Brighton & Hove Albion (24), Everton (22), Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur (both 21).
Asked what he would do to quell such behavioural concerns if he was manager, Poyet urged Maresca to issue a nine-word message to his players of ensuring that all games finish 11v11.
“They need to be a little bit more aware of that situation because it becomes a problem," he added. "The typical message: 'let's start 11 and finish 11 every game now.' No more stupid red cards, simple like that. The rest is the game.”
What has Enzo Maresca said about Chelsea's red cards?
Robert Sanchez of Chelsea reacts after being sent off on September 20, 2025
Following Delap's ejection in the EFL Cup win at Wolves, Maresca rightly could not defend the forward's actions, labelling his actions "very stupid" and "completely unnecessary".
Earlier in the season, Sanchez's fifth-minute red card at Man United saw the Spaniard set an unwanted record for Chelsea's earliest ever in a Premier League game, and the third-earliest in the competition for a goalkeeper.
"I completely understand when there are red cards like against Brighton [Trevoh Chalobah red] or Manchester United [Robert Sanchez red], that's difficult, but the red cards against Nottingham Forest and today, both we can and have to avoid," Maresca said at Molineux last week.
"It's embarrassing when it's a red card like today because it's two yellow cards in five or 10 minutes. Both, I think, we can avoid. So it's not good."
However, Delap will return for Chelsea's Champions League trip to Qarabag on Wednesday night, while Pedro is also available again in Europe after serving a continental ban in the 5-1 win over Ajax.
Gus Poyet was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of BetWright.
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