Chelsea are facing Brighton in the Premier League tonight, the same opposition they lost to in the same stadium a little less than a week ago.
Reece James was not in the squad for that game as he was rested – but in his press conference yesterday Enzo Maresca insisted he wasn’t injured, so we all expected him back in the team tonight after a long break.
Instead James is on the bench. Maresca has just been asked about that decision in the buildup to kick off, and gave a somewhat confusing answer:
“Reece, we need to manage his situation. We want him fit always. We need to find a solution,” the coach explained to Sky Sports.
“He played some games in a row, so last game we decide for him to have a rest. He is fit and good. Hopefully we can give him some minutes tonight.”
We don’t understand. If James is fit, he should be starting. Why would he be rested for more than two weeks? That’s not going to help him, if anything it’s counterproductive. We’d say that he has a small issue and that Maresca is protecting him, but why would the coach be so insistent that he’s fit if he’s not?
It’s all very odd. Managing minutes means not playing him twice a week, not playing him twice a month. If the full back is fit to come on in the second half it all becomes even stranger.
Chelsea must do better in second bite of the cherry
As well as being asked about James, Maresca was asked about how he expected his team to improve tonight as they face the same opposition for a second time:
“You can always learn from any game. For sure, I think, overall it was not a bad performance [vs Brighton in the FA Cup],” he said.
“In total, they had a few shots. Sometimes you concede two shots and score twice. Of course, we can attack better.”
We certainly can – and we need to.
Noni out, Nkunku one of the worst players I’ve seen, Jason Sacho dire. No strikers until April, at best. Sporting directors clueless. No way wil we beat Aston Villa, who will trash us.
We let Felix go, Maresca didnt rate him, and now what?
Season is over. We are finished. Top eight if we are lucky.
We don’t have a good coach pls let the coach to be sack before it is too late
The coach must be sack before it is too late because he can not handle big team like Chelsea and we need a good coach
All true the manager hasn’t got a clue We spend loads of money and don’t even have a forward.
Bad team selection why is constantly changing g the defence I have given up watching