Enzo Maresca has suggested that Chelsea’s early-season exertions in the Club World Cup may be catching up with them, following a 2-2 draw against Qarabag in the Champions League. The Blues managed to scrape a point from their trip to Azerbaijan after falling behind 2-1. Estevao Willian gave Chelsea an early lead, sparking hopes of a successful journey for the west London club.
However, Maresca soon found himself despairing as his team let their opponents back into the match. Jorrel Hato’s defensive blunder allowed Leandro Andrade to equalise before the ex-Ajax star was deemed to have committed a handball offence. Marko Jankovic successfully converted the resulting penalty, only for substitute Alejandro Garnacho to rescue a point for Chelsea.
Maresca made seven alterations to the line-up that triumphed over Tottenham and cited the Club World Cup campaign as a factor in his decision. He also criticised elements of Chelsea’s performance at both ends of the pitch.
“The big difference today for me was inside the box,” Maresca commented. “The goal we conceded, they are silly goals for me. In their box, for the amount of times that we arrived, we have not been clinical enough. So this is the big difference for me.”
Defending his team selection, Maresca added: “The Club World Cup affects a lot. We try to rotate. When you win, no one mentions all that. When we don’t win, everyone is focused on that, and now I think it’s important to recover energy for Saturday and go again.”
Chelsea skipper Reece James was equally scathing about his side’s defensive display, pinpointing the blunders that saw the Blues fall behind.
The 25-year-old suggested his team’s backline has become a broader issue, with rival teams not needing to produce spectacular football to breach Chelsea’s defence.
“Disappointing to sum up,” said James. “Coming here, we wanted to win. We felt that we set up strong, but we made two errors that led to a penalty and a goal that we gifted them, and then to get back into the game is difficult.
“Their fans were quite good tonight. The pitch was difficult to play, but this is something we expected and didn’t quite adapt to.
“Two mistakes led to two goals, and it’s difficult when the momentum in the game changes, and we simply didn’t do enough. We had a few chances we didn’t take and we only have ourselves to blame.
“If you look at the goals that we have conceded, they haven’t been from amazing play, more our mistakes, and that is something we need to cut out.”
