Manager Enzo Maresca is not shy about criticizing his players and criticized the performance of defender Tosin Adarabioyo, which led to Chelsea’s defeat at Leeds on Wednesday night.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca appeared for no reason when he decided to target defender Tosin Adarabioyo after midweek’s defeat to Leeds.
The Blues returned to earth at Elland Road after recently defeating Barcelona and holding Arsenal to 10 men. Leeds moved out of the bottom three with a 3-1 win for Daniel Farke’s side.
Chelsea were without Reece James and the suspended Moises Caicedo and were trailing 0-2 at half-time. Dominic Calvert-Lewin tapped in after a scuffle between Maro Gusto and Adarabioyo, and Pedro Neto pulled the ball back before the visitors could do any damage.
Maresca claimed that the defeat at Yorkshire was due to the team’s inexperience, but Maresca denied that theory, claiming that some of the senior players, such as Adarabioyo, were simply not good enough.
He said: “When we drop points, we always talk about experience, but when we beat Barcelona and drew against Arsenal, no one talked about experienced players. That wasn’t the reason.”
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“We have experienced players. We have players who are suspended, we have players who are injured. Who is our most experienced player this week? Toshin. Did he play well? So it’s not a question of experience.”
Maresca shuffled his backline in preparation for the trip north, but continued to lament some of his players’ performances. Trevo Chalobah, who scored against Arsenal, played at right-back, while Adarabioyo and Benoît Badiashile played at centre-back.
Chelsea manager claimed he was trying to stop Leeds’ long balls but suggested he should have played teenager Josh Achiampong, a tactic that failed
“One of the regrets after the game was not being able to play with Josh,” Maresca added. “The reason we played with Trevor, Benoit and Tocin was because we could see their long balls to the strikers, but we still lost most of the balls.”
Chelsea is currently nine points behind leaders Arsenal, and the teams around them are particularly crowded. There is only a two-point difference between the Blues in fourth place and Liverpool in ninth place. Maresca’s side travel to Bournemouth this weekend alongside the Cherries, who have not won in their last five games.
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