Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is under a lot of pressure right now after some bad results, but plenty of people have pointed out that much of this isn’t his fault.
Errors from players leading to red cards, plus injuries, have cost him dearly.
Gittens won’t improve final product sitting on the bench
Yet there are some decisions the Chelsea coach has made which can be criticised. The London is Blue podcast noted that his underuse of £55m summer signing Jamie Gittens wasn’t helping the young player improve and become a viable option for this team:
“You again had an opportunity to at least try and win something on the break [against Brighton], and Gittens is at least ridiculously quick if nothing else. And those options have not been used,” analyst CFCCentral noted.
“I mean, he’s not played more than 60 minutes in a game for Chelsea. I think the last time he came on played more than 30 minutes for Chelsea was against Fulham more than a month ago. He’s not going to develop on the bench, just putting on a Chelsea shirt isn’t going to make him a better player. He has to play.”
Garnacho won’t get fit sitting on the bench
Maresca has shown slightly more faith in £40m summer signing Alejandro Garnacho, another summer addition who is struggling to get up to speed:
“How is Garnacho going to get fit if he’s playing 60 minutes, one time in 150 days [since his last appearance],” CFC Central asked.
“Those are the questions I need Maresca to answer. You need to somehow find these opportunities to get these guys to up speed. If there are any injuries which happen to Pedro Neto or Joao Pedro it’s game over. He has to start anticipating those situations going into December.”
It’s very true, these players need serious minutes unlike these cameo appearances. What’s the point in bringing these players when they ain’t being given opportunities to improve themselves?