Enzo Maresca has admitted he was left red-faced by Chelsea’s latest sending off, as Liam Delap became the latest culprit of red cards, continuing his worrying trend of collecting red cards. The sending off almost happened, but the Blues narrowly defeated Wolves 4-3 at Molineux, marking Delap’s return from injury, but the game did not go as expected.
This summer’s rookie came on as a second-half substitute and was booked twice in just seven minutes. This reduced Chelsea to 10 men. This is a common scenario they’ve encountered this season. Maresca said Delap’s abysmal disciplinary history showed no signs of improvement and labeled Delap’s actions selfish.
Maresca clearly told the former Ipswich striker that he needed to remain calm after receiving his first warning, but his words clearly fell on deaf ears.
“It was a very stupid red card that was completely unnecessary and absolutely deserved. Red cards like this can and should be avoided. A red card like today is embarrassing. There were two yellow cards in seven minutes, both avoidable. This is not good. After the yellow card, I told him (Delap) four or five times to calm down.”
“But Liam is a player who is probably playing the game for himself when he’s on the pitch, and he’s struggling to understand that and listen to what others have to say.”
Delap later acknowledged her mistake on social media, saying, “I take full responsibility for my actions. I will behave better next time.”
Maresca has changed his tune since last month, when he dismissed a series of red cards as not indicative of a disciplinary problem, while analyzing each incident. In just 10 days, they had three people sent off, two of which resulted in defeats.
In the match against Manchester United, goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was shown a red card in the opening minutes, giving the Red Devils the lead and winning the match. A week later, Trevor Chalobah was sent off in a home game against Brighton.
Three days later, Joao Pedro was given his marching orders after receiving two yellow cards in a Champions League game against Benfica. It happened late in the game, but the West Londoners managed to maintain their lead.
Most recently, Maro Gusto was sent off in the win against Nottingham Forest.
