Chelsea were undone at Leeds on Wednesday night with Enzo Maresca not shying away from calling out his players - criticising defender Tosin Adarabioyo for his performance
Enzo Maresca spoke his mind following Chelsea's loss at Leeds
Enzo Maresca spoke his mind following Chelsea's loss at Leeds(Image: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
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Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca appeared to be unprovoked when he decided to take aim at at defender Tosin Adarabioyo following the loss at Leeds in midweek.
Having recently beaten Barcelona and held Arsenal with 10 men the Blues were brought back down to earth at Elland Road. Leeds lifted themselves out of the bottom three with victory as Daniel Farke's men emerged 3-1 winners.
Chelsea were without Reece James and the suspended Moises Caicedo and found themselves 2-0 down at the break. Pedro Neto pulled a goal back before the visitors inflicted damage on themselves as a mix-up between Malo Gusto and Adarabioyo left Dominic Calvert-Lewin with a tap-in.
It was put to Maresca that the loss in Yorkshire owed to a lack of experience in his team, but he rejected that theory and claimed that some of his more senior players, naming Adarabioyo, were simply not good enough.
He said: "We are always talking about experience when we drop points but when we beat Barcelona and drew with Arsenal, no one is talking about experienced players. This was not the reason.
"We have experienced players, one that was suspended and one who has an injury. Who was the most experienced player for us in the week? Tosin. Did he play good? So it is not about experience."
Maresca shuffled his backline for the trip up north, but continued to bemoan some of the performances of his players. Trevoh Chalobah, who scored against Arsenal, filled in at right-back, with Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile at centre-back.
The Chelsea boss claimed he was seeking to stop Leeds playing long balls, but the tactic failed as he suggest he should've played teenager Josh Acheampong
Tosin Adarabioyo has copped his from his manager after making one notable error
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"One of the regrets I have after the game is that I didn't play with Josh," Maresca added. "The reason why we played with Trevoh, Benoit and Tosin was because we saw long balls to their strikers, but even that, we lost most of them."
Chelsea are now nine points off Arsenal in top spot with the teams around them particularly congested. Only two points separates the Blues in fourth from Liverpool in ninth. Maresca's side travel to Bournemouth this weekend with the Cherries without a win in their last five games.
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