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ENZO MARESCA WISHES HE STARTED JOSH ACHEAMPONG AGAINST LEEDS
Maresca admitted a tactical error focusing on aerial ability backfired against Leeds. He defends his team's experience but hinted at a return for academy defender Acheampong.
Enzo Maresca says he wishes he had started Josh Acheampong in the Chelsea game against Leeds United. This might mean he's thinking about putting Acheampong in the lineup for Saturday's game at Bournemouth.
After Chelsea played well in previous games, like when they beat Barcelona 3-0 and tied 1-1 with Arsenal, many people thought they could actually win the league.
But on Wednesday, they lost that spark when Leeds United beat them 3-1.
People criticised Maresca for changing up the defence too much. He took out Wesley Fofana and Reece James and moved Trevoh Chalobah to the right-back position.
Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile were the two centre-backs, but Badiashile got subbed out at halftime. Later, his replacement, Malo Gusto, and Tosin made a mistake that allowed Leeds to score their third goal.
In his press conference before the Bournemouth game, Maresca admitted he made a mistake with his team selection.
"I regret not playing Josh, he said.
The reason we went with Trev, Tosin, and Benoit was that we saw that Leeds often play long balls to [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin and [Lukas] Nmecha.
We wanted players who were good at winning aerial battles. But even then, we still lost most of those battles.
Acheampong has played well when he's had the chance. The 19-year-old has played in nine games this season, starting five of them. However, he hasn't played since the loss to Sunderland in October.
People have been saying that the academy should play more, and Maresca said that he thinks the Bournemouth game will be against Leeds. So, it will be interesting to see if he gives Acheampong a chance this time.
His intensity, and Leeds was very intense. I said that they were better than us. We need to learn from that and be ready for tomorrow.
The coach also disagreed with the idea that his team is too inexperienced. We only talk about experience when we lose. When we beat Barcelona and drew with Arsenal, nobody mentioned experience.
When we don't win, we look for reasons why. But we didn't win against Leeds because we weren't good enough.
Who's the oldest player on the field? Tosin. Did he play well? It's not about experience. All 11 players just didn't play well enough. We're always looking for experience, but it was a bad game for everyone.
ENZO MARESCA EXPLAINS: WHY ESTEVAO WILLIAN STAYED ON THE BENCH DURING 2-1 UCL DEFEAT
Unused sub Estevao Willian showed his desire to win by kicking a cone in frustration after Chelsea conceded to Atalanta, a moment Maresca explained was due to an injury change.
Estevao Willian's disappointment was clear during Chelsea's 2-1 loss to Atalanta in the Champions League. The 18-year-old winger spent the whole match on the bench Tuesday night as Chelsea blew their lead.
Joao Pedro scored first for Chelsea, slipping the ball past Marco Carnesecchi. Even though they had a few more good chances, the Blues didn't score again before Atalanta tied the game.
Late in the game, Charles De Ketelaere scored, his shot deflecting past Robert Sanchez. With this loss, Chelsea has dropped out of the top eight and hasn't won in their last four games.
Estevao really wanted to play in Bergamo, but he remained a substitute. He warmed up in the second half and was near the field when Gianluca Scamacca scored the tying goal.
A fan caught Estevao's reaction to the goal and posted it on X (the social media platform previously known as Twitter). The young player was clearly upset when Atalanta scored, grabbing his shirt and saying something to himself before kicking a training cone.
He went back to warming up with Jorrel Hato, Andrey Santos, Marc Guiu, and Facundo Buonanotte. Even during this tough moment, Estevao's desire to play, his love for the game, and his will to win were obvious.
After the game, Maresca told reporters why Estevao didn't play. Tosin [Adarabioyo] had to come on because Wes [Fofana] needed to be subbed out; that was a change we had to make, the Chelsea coach said.
If we had another substitution available, Estevao or Andrey [Santos] probably would have played. But that change changed our plan for the game a bit.
Maresca talked about the difficulties of rotating the starting lineup: Tonight, our starting eleven included eight or nine players who also played against Tottenham, Barcelona, Wolves, and Arsenal.
We had eight or nine players who played in most of these matches. So, the five changes we made compared to the Bournemouth game were different.
But if you look at the team, we had eight or nine players who also played against Barcelona, Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolves, you know, those types of games. These are the players who are playing almost every game.
About the results, Maresca commented, "After we conceded, we lost some control of the match." In the first half, we scored a goal, allowed some chances, but also created a few of our own.
In the second half, we had two good opportunities to score another goal. But after they scored to tie the game, we lost control again, and then they scored a second time.
I think we could have stopped both goals. They were easy goals to avoid.
JOE COLE DEMANDS EXPERIENCE: CHELSEA'S COLLAPSE AFTER ATALANTA LOSS IS 'DISAPPOINTING'
Following a major loss to Atalanta, former Chelsea star Joe Cole highlights the team's need for experienced leaders to navigate tough matches.
After Chelsea's loss to Atalanta in the Champions League, Joe Cole made it clear what he thinks the team needs. Their recent form has been really disappointing, he said.
Just weeks ago, after they crushed Barcelona 3-0, people thought Enzo Maresca's team could go far in both the Premier League and Champions League.
But since then, Chelsea hasn't won four straight games. They've dropped to fifth place in the Premier League, eight points behind Arsenal.
On Tuesday, Joao Pedro put Chelsea ahead against Atalanta, but the home team came back with two goals in the second half to win 2-1.
This loss puts Chelsea in 11th place in the Champions League, and they'll likely fall even further after Wednesday's games.
Cole said Chelsea's performance in Italy was really disappointing. He believes that his old club needs to add some experienced players to Maresca's squad.
Since Todd Boehly took over in 2022, Chelsea has spent a ton of money, but they've mostly signed young players with potential rather than established stars.
It’s really disappointing, Cole told TNT Sports after the 2-1 defeat. Chelsea played well in the first half and got the first goal.
But they looked shaky after that, and you could see their weaknesses. It’s frustrating.
They played great against Barcelona, but they haven't kept that up, with three poor performances since then.
I keep thinking that they need more experienced players to help them get through tough games.
The coaches probably told them what to expect tonight, but it helps to have someone who's been there before on the field.
Chelsea isn't quite there yet. They show flashes of potential and have some great games, but then they have games like tonight where they just don't play well.
This weekend is very important because they haven't won in four games. They have to win against Everton.
Steve Sidwell, another former Chelsea player, added, The first half was even, but Chelsea looked disorganised in the second half, maybe because of the changes they made.
They seemed a bit off, and if you give good players time and space, they'll make you pay.
After this disappointing result in Italy, Chelsea's chances of qualifying for the Champions League are uncertain.
Maresca's team will play Pafos at home in their next European game on January 21, followed by a game against Napoli the following week.
When asked about Chelsea's chances in their last two games, Cole said, You'd expect them to beat Pafos at home, which would set up a huge game at Antonio Conte’s Napoli.
That game will be important. You don’t have to finish in the top eight, but you want to avoid playing extra games because the Premier League is tough.
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