Enzo Maresca said that Chelsea have plenty of room for improvement after they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle.
Chelsea’s performance at St James’ Park was among their worst of the season as they were well beaten by the Magpies thanks to an Alexander Isak goal and an own goal from Axel Disasi.
Maresca again deployed the ‘B team’ which has featured primarily in the Conference League, making 11 changes from the squad which beat Newcastle 2-1 at Stamford Bridge last weekend. Many of the starters failed to impress in their first stiff test of the season, though, with calamitous defending and wayward attacking ensuring Chelsea took nothing home.
Speaking at full time, Maresca insists that his tactics and team selection were not the issue.
He said: “We need to get better with many things. We didn’t concede any chances because of the press two days ago against them.
“The other day it was [Moises Caicedo] and Romeo [Lavia] and today it Renato [Veiga] and Marc [Cucurella]. We did very well two days ago. We did very well tonight but there are many things we can do better.”
Maresca also hinted at a growing frustration with Enzo Fernandez. Chelsea’s £100 million man has struggled to live up to his price tag since moving to Chelsea and failed to make an impact again tonight.
“For me, we lost the game because of 10 minutes. After that, we lost the control. We need more control but it’s not only from Enzo. It’s in general.”
Chelsea fans have been quick to criticise the manager for including Cole Palmer in the squad and choosing not to play him. Ahead of another away day at Old Trafford on Sunday, many are wondering why Maresca would bother bringing Palmer to Newcastle only to leave him on the bench.
In response, Maresca said Palmer did not feature because “Joao and Christo were doing very good. The reason why was because in case we needed Cole but they were doing well so we didn’t need to change.”