Enzo Maresca infuriated a lot of fans with his changes after the red card at the start of Chelsea’s game against Manchester United, and he’s done it again with his decision to NOT make changes at half time.
Maresca goes ultra defensive
After Robert Sanchez’s red card, Maresca needed to bring on a goalkeeper. But he decided to also bring on centre back Tosin Adarabioyo for winger Pedro Neto, losing his best counter attacking threat in the process, in order to switch to a back 5.
Cole Palmer aggravated his groin injury shortly after. That meant that Chelsea had now used 3 subs and 2 of their 3 in game chances to make changes. If the coach had waited to see how Palmer was coping, he could at least have had him off for Tosin.
Or better yet – don’t play your star player game after game while they’re injured.
Maresca stays ultra defensive against ten men
Fans were frustrated by the seemingly cowardly decision to go instantly more defensive, but they were even more infuriated by what they saw after half time. With United now 2 goals up but also down to ten men, the chance was there for Maresca to bring on a more attacking player.
There’s nothing to lose – we just need attackers on the pitch. And half time is a free chance to make those changes. Instead he’s stuck with the same system that he was using at 0-0 with 10 vs 11, except now it’s 2-0 and 10 vs 10.
On Twitter, podcaster Kieran Doyle called it “real coward sh*t” and our writer Will Faulks said the decision was “hard to understand.”
We don’t know what comes next in this game – maybe Chelsea do get back into it. But they’ve missed an incredible chance to change things up after Manchester United handed them a lifeline.
