Enzo Maresca’s team selections at the moment are very tricky. He’s got to balance the final stages of a European campaign with a very tough run in in the Premier League.
He’s got a lot of important players freshly back from injuries and others who need to have their minutes carefully managed. There’s almost no team he could pick which would please everyone.
After playing Nicolas Jackson for a game and a half last week, the manager has chosen to bench him today and trust Christopher Nkunku, whose form has been dire. The coach was asked about these decisions ahead of kick off in tonight’s quarter final against Legia Warsaw.
“It’s because we trust Christo, that he can have a good game, and can help us win the game. We want to see a good game, hopefully we can win, we know that this will be a tough game for different reasons [the crowd].”
So, not giving much away there then. What about Cole Palmer, who played the same amount as Jackson last week yet is starting tonight, with much of the rest of the first team rested?
“He is playing already a big part since we started the season and for sure he’s going to continue to play a big part.”
Again, not exactly forthcoming with the information here. Is he tense, grumpy, worried or just focused on the game?
Chelsea need win – but also need stars fit
This is going to be a very tough game, and as Maresca hinted in his answer, that will come more from the atmosphere than the opposition players.
We just hope the likes of Palmer and Jackson can make it through unscathed and be fit and ready to earn an essential 3 points against Ipswich on Sunday.
“Not exactly forthcoming”??? What do you expect him to say, SuperFrank? Honestly, you quibble with the stupidest stuff and I can’t tell whether it’s merely to generate clicks (which is cynical as hell and all too common in what passes for online journalism), or whether you just can’t resist playing both sides against the middle.
Anyone who’s fair-minded would look at Maresca’s team selection over the last couple of weeks and conclude that he’s attempting (and mostly succeeding based on today’s results) to strike a balance between bringing players back from injury slowly, managing the minutes of our workhorses and trying to give budding young academy talents enough of a whiff of the first team to keep the happy, committed and developing toward being regular contributors. Yet, to listen to most of your columns (where you’re always insinuating that he’s screwed up or about to do so) you’d think Maresca was incompetent at all of the above. It’s a patently ridiculous position to keep taking up when you stop to consider that Maresca has the youngest squad in the Premier League (by a WIDE margin) currently in line to make the UCL and well on track to win a European trophy.