Enzo Maresca feels Chelsea made too many mistakes as they failed to beat Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues were held to a 0-0 draw on the south coast, and have taken just two points from their last three league matches.
Chelsea remain fourth in the league, but are now five points behind Aston Villa in third, and six behind Manchester City in second.
Enzo Maresca on Bournemouth performance
As expected Maresca made changes to the team that lost against Leeds, and arguably fielded Chelsea’s strongest available team.
However, the Blues turned in another largely poor showing, and struggled to take the game to Bournemouth or put them under any sort of pressure.
Trevoh Chalobah against Bournemouth.
Chelsea struggled to break Bournemouth down. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
The Blues struggled to create many clear cut opportunities, and lost Liam Delap to a shoulder injury, which leaves them short at humber nine.
Maresca believes Chelsea lacked quality in the the final third, and he believes they made too many mistakes.
“I think it was a game where we lacked, we missed a little bit of quality in the last third,” he told his post match press conference.
“For me, many mistakes. We missed some passes in the last third, some moments that we could shoot and avoid that, cross.
“But yeah, overall, when you are not able to win, we said many times that it’s important that we don’t lose.”
Chelsea short at number nine
The Blues face another big week with games against Atalanta and Everton, which they will likely be without Delap for.
His absence means once again Chelsea are short at number nine with just Marc Guiu and Joao Pedro currently available.
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Enzo Maresca shouts from the touchline.
Enzo Maresca appeals on the touchline.
Enzo Maresca appeals on the touchline.
Pedro has really struggled for form, whilst Guiu brings energy, but lacks quality, with Pedro Neto another option down the middle.
It will be interesting to see what Maresca does, but the lack of quality in depth at number nine has to be a concern.