Chelsea were beaten by Manchester United in a really painful game in the rain at Old Trafford today, but the consequences could go well beyond a frustrating evening.
Palmer risk from manager backfires
We had pleaded with manager Enzo Maresca to leave out Cole Palmer today, but he did just that. Palmer has been nursing a groin injury all season, and missed a couple of games before being brought on against Brentford last week.
Less than a third of the way through the game today, the attacking midfielder signalled that he needed to come off, then disappeared down the tunnel looking dejected.
It was especially frustrating because Chelsea were down to ten men and had used 2 subs already at that point.
Maresca not doing his job to manage players’ fitness
Speaking after the game today in his press conference, Maresca explained what his take on things was:
“Cole, he tried this morning, he had a test this morning to play this game, he was not 100% fit, he made a fantastic effort to play this game, but he was not 100%.
“Yeah, it’s a problem that it’s already a long time for him, he’s growing. Again, he did this morning a test, he wanted to play this game for the team, to be close, so the effort has been huge from him, but then after 20 minutes he started to feel something, so we decided to change him.”
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Palmer never should have played against Brentford, and certainly shouldn’t have played for 97 minutes against Bayern Munich in midweek. He definitely aggravated his issue there.
Even if Palmer is pushing to play, Maresca has to be strong and leave him out. He’s been here for a year now, he should have a way of creating chances without the number 10.
Maresca Is Not Doing His Job All At All He Should Have Defeated Manchester UnitedEasily And The Red Card Chelsea Could Receive Is Not An Excuse For Him Man utd Also Receive One Too So When Man Utd Receive Their’s What Happened Next Chelsea Charge Up And Start Dominating Man Utd With Possession You See I Know The Reason Why Chelsea Loss To Man Utd Which Is Sub Cole Palmer Very Early The Key Player Including Neto What Ah heck Is That Estevao Sub Doesn’t Pains Me Because Through Him A New Goalkeeper Was Brought In (Filip) With Fear Maresca Could Bring In All His Defense And Nobody To Create Chance For Pedro. Garnacho Couldn’t Also Played A Singue Minute But Maresca Is Still A Good Coach But Should Avoid This Next Time During January Window Chelsea Should Bring In Camavinga,Emmanuel,Diogo Costa Chelsea Need A New Goalie,kounde,antonio Silva, etc