After a bad result away at Qarabag, Enzo Maresca’s team selection for the game has been questioned. The Blues made a number of changes to the team that beat Tottenham at the weekend, and they were punished with a draw which could have major effects later in the season.
Maresca says changes were forced on him
Chelsea warm up in Baku.
Chelsea warm up in Baku. (Photo by Aziz Karimov/Getty Images)
“I think I tried to explain already many times, the intention was to rest Moises, Enzo, Malo and more players,” Enzo said.
“They are not able to play every three days. The Club World Cup affected a lot. We tried to rotate. When we win, nobody mentions that but when we don’t, everyone is focused on that.
We’re with Enzo here. He can’t be playing his first eleven in every game. And there were first team players out there tonight – Robert Sanchez, Joao Pedro, Marc Cucurella and Reece James all started, Moises Caicedo was on after 8 minutes. Estevao played 90 minutes – would we have been better off with Pedro Neto? Hardly.
He’s got a squad, he’s got good second string players, he’s got to use them. If they’re not up to it – someone should have bought better players.
That’s not to say we agreed with everything in his selection – picking Jorrel Hato ahead of Josh Acheampong was mad and was punished hard – but we can see his point of view.
In other news…
Tosin got good marks on the stats site in this game despite a poor showing – we had a look at why that might be, here.
Chelsea equalised when sub Alejandro Garnacho burst through and scored, but they couldn’t get the crucial third goal to earn them three points. The Blues had taken the lead in this game through Estevao Willian – although their subsequent bad defending meant that didn’t last long.
More Stories about Enzo Maresca
Chelsea players including Alejandro Garnacho enjoy training.
Enzo Maresca in a Champions League press conference.
Cole Palmer goes off injured against Manchester United.