Enzo Maresca has defended his decision to change the team that he picked in midweek.
**Chelsea**drew 2-2 with **Qarabag**in the Champions League as questions about the strength of the squad and the stability of central defence continue to grow. However, the lack of a preseason, load of the schedule, and reasonable doubts about some of the summer signings have put the head coach in a difficult predicament. He is not above scrutiny, but Maresca feels that he is right to rest and rotate.
“I said already many times, we are in a moment, in an era where anyone can say what they want, it's correct, I completely respect, but I also said after the Qarabag game, that since I joined the club, it's also my view to rotate players, and no-one complained in the moment that you don't win a game.
*“I can understand that no-one disagreed. I think that when the rotation is Andrey Santos, Brazil international player, Jorrel Hato, Netherlands international player, Estevao, Brazil international player, it's not about rotation. They are good, they are talented, they are young, and for sure when they are young, you have to give them the chance to make some mistakes, to be better.*
*“The same thing I think happened in the past with Josh Acheampong. But again, I understand that when you don't win a game, the problem is the rotation or defending.*
*“I think in this moment football is a bit different compared to years ago, in terms of physicality and intensity. For me personally, it's impossible to play with the same players 65 games in one season, Champions League, Premier League. You cannot say, but why years ago it was possible? Because it was different. It was not so physical. I played for 20 years. It was not so physical. Now it's changed.*
“You need to rotate. This is my personal view. I think you need to do that. If you want to see a season like a marathon, then when you are in February, when you are in March, that is the last spring, you have to think in a different way. But at the moment, I think you have to think like a long race.
“I think, first of all, at the beginning of the season, with the Levi Colwill injury, for sure we lost, I said many times, in my view, in the way we wanted to play, our best defender, in terms of build-up.
“From there, we tried to find solutions. We tried to solve problems, tried to adjust things. We were playing with three at the back in build-up. We played with two at the back in four or five games.
*“We tried to find different solutions. Last game, we kept a clean sheet with Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana. They said to me this morning that last year, after 11 Premier League games, we had two clean sheets. This season, after 10 games, we have already four clean sheets.”*