JOHN TERRY DEMANDS ENZO MARESCA END ROTATION AFTER "BAD PERFORMANCE
The 3-1 loss to Leeds was a major setback for Chelsea. John Terry urged manager Maresca to stop rotating players and demand more "fight" from the squad.
According to club legend John Terry, Chelsea's disappointing loss to Leeds United could hurt their chances in the Premier League title race. The Blues icon expressed frustration with his former team's lack of experience after their damaging 3-1 defeat, which leaves them nine points behind leaders Arsenal. It’s a stark contrast to their previous 1-1 draw against Arsenal.
Chelsea's Form Dips After Leeds Loss
Last Sunday, Chelsea put up a good fight with 10 men against Arsenal, earning a point. They then travelled to face a struggling Leeds team, just six points behind Arsenal.
While Arsenal managed to beat Brentford, Chelsea unexpectedly lost at Elland Road. At halftime, they were down 2-0 after goals from Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka. Pedro Neto scored for the Blues early in the second half, giving them a chance.
Despite Neto's goal, Chelsea couldn't equalise. Tosin Adarabioyo's mistake led to Leeds' third goal, scored by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, sealing Chelsea's defeat.
This loss ended Chelsea's seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions. Fans are disappointed, as they hoped to see their team improve from last season's fourth-place finish.
Terry's Frustration
Terry didn't hide his anger after the game, believing the loss could be a major setback for Chelsea.
Speaking on TikTok, Terry, who won 15 major trophies with Chelsea, including five Premier League titles and one Champions League crown, said, That was a bad performance.
I knew Leeds would be aggressive. The fans would be loud, and it would be tough. You either match that intensity or try to calm the game down. We didn't do that in the first half.
You can't follow up two great performances with that. It won't make you title contenders. It's our inexperience that will cost us. If you can't go to Leeds and know what to expect...
Terry Urges Maresca to Stick with Key Players
Terry, still upset, also felt Chelsea lacked fight. He wants manager Maresca to stop rotating the squad and stick with the players who will give their all every week.
"You need to go there and show fight, match Leeds in every way, and earn the right to play," Terry added. After 15 or 20 minutes, you can start playing football once you've earned it.
Poor set-piece defending and individual mistakes aren't good enough. Maybe the manager should look at the squad and decide rotations aren't the way forward. He needs to pick his best 11-14 players and stick with them.
Maresca Acknowledges Poor Performance
Chelsea's next game is against Bournemouth on Saturday. After that, they face Atalanta in the Champions League on December 9.
Maresca said about the Leeds game: I think they were better than us in every way. They deserved to win.
We can't take anything positive from the game. We need to understand our mistakes and reset. We have another game in 48 hours [against Bournemouth].
After playing so well against Barcelona and Arsenal, you expect a better performance. But things didn't go our way. We changed players, and the level dropped because the players we changed are important.
DID LIAM ROSENIOR’S PAST AS A PUNDIT INFLUENCE HIS DEFENSIVE STRATEGY AT ARSENAL?
Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior hits back at critics after a defensive approach saw the Blues exit the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Liam Rosenior stood by his cautious approach after Chelsea couldn’t overturn their first-leg deficit against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Down 3-2 from the first match, Chelsea never really put Arsenal under pressure at the Emirates. In the end, Kai Havertz—of all people—put the game to bed in stoppage time, scoring against his old club.
Rosenior switched things up, going with a back three and playing it safe. He wanted to keep the game close and try to push hard late on. He brought on Cole Palmer and Estevao around the 60th minute, hoping for a spark, but Chelsea still couldn’t carve out real chances. Arsenal just wouldn’t budge.
Pundits didn’t love Rosenior’s tactics and let him know it. He brushed it off. “I’ve been a pundit. It’s easy. It’s easy in hindsight,” he said. “If I go all-out and press high, we could give away two early goals, and then everyone asks what I’m thinking. That’s just how it is. Lose, and you’re hammered. Win, and you’re a genius. Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle.”
Chelsea were up against the league leaders, and with both Reece James and Pedro Neto missing due to minor injuries, Rosenior planned to hang in there and try to frustrate Arsenal—and maybe turn the mood in the stadium.
“That was the idea. You saw it,” he said. “I thought the psychological side of the tie mattered, and you could feel it in the stadium too. At 60 minutes, I brought on Cole and Estevao, and suddenly we had some moments around the box. I think people sensed this game could flip.”
It didn’t happen, though. Rosenior said he couldn’t fault his players for their effort, and in the end, Arsenal’s clinching goal came while Chelsea were throwing everything forward, desperate to turn things around.
IS JOãO PEDRO ACTUALLY BETTER THAN LIVERPOOL’S £79M HUGO EKITIKé? THE STATS REVEAL ALL
Liam Rosenior makes history as Chelsea win three in a row! Discover why João Pedro is the Premier League's best summer signing.
Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over Chelsea in 2022, they've been anything but quiet in the transfer market. In just three and a half years, they've signed 54 new senior players and spent well over £1 billion.
Some of these signings haven’t even made it onto the pitch for the first team—guys like Gaga Słonina, Ângelo Gabriel, Omari Kellyman, and Caleb Wiley, just to name a few. But others have really made their mark. Think Marc Cucurella, Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and, of course, Cole Palmer. Now, the question is, has one of Chelsea’s latest summer signings done enough to join that group? Is he about to become one of the Premier League’s signings of the season?
Let’s talk about Chelsea’s summer addition and what he’s bringing to the table. It’s been a great week for Liam Rosenior’s squad. On Saturday night, they were 2-0 down at halftime to West Ham at Stamford Bridge. Somehow, they turned it around and won 3-2, with Enzo Fernández scoring in stoppage time to seal it.
That win made it three league victories in a row for Rosenior. He’s now only the fourth English manager to start his Premier League career with three straight wins—joining Bobby Gould, Sam Allardyce, and Craig Shakespeare. Not bad company at all.
Just three days earlier, Chelsea booked their spot in the Champions League round of 16 after a wild 3-2 win away at Napoli. Down 2-1, João Pedro scored twice in the second half to turn the game around. The Brazilian’s goal at the weekend kicked off Chelsea’s comeback, bringing his total to 15 goals for the club—including three at the Club World Cup. So, how does he stack up against other strikers who switched clubs last summer?
Looking at the numbers, here’s how the new strikers have done since moving in the summer of 2025:
Hugo Ekitiké (Liverpool, £79m): 15 goals (10 PL, 2 UCL)
João Pedro (Chelsea, £60m): 12 goals (9 PL, 3 UCL)
Viktor Gyökeres (Arsenal, £54.8m): 11 goals (6 PL, 4 UCL)
Nick Woltemade (Man United, £69m): 9 goals (7 PL, 1 UCL)
Benjamin Šeško (Man City, £66.3m): 6 goals (5 PL)
Alexander Isak (Newcastle, £125m): 3 goals (2 PL)
Liam Delap (Spurs, £30m): 2 goals (1 PL, 1 UCL)
Only Ekitiké has scored more than João Pedro across all competitions, but Liverpool paid about £20m more for him than Chelsea paid for Pedro. In the whole Premier League, only Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago, Antoine Semenyo, and Ekitiké have more league goals than Pedro’s nine.
But stats aside, Chelsea just look more dangerous with Pedro leading the attack. Their last league defeat? He started that one on the bench at Craven Cottage. Since Rosenior took over, Pedro has started and scored in every match.
Chelsea have brought in plenty of players from Brighton during the BlueCo era, but with the way things are going, João Pedro might end up being the best of the bunch.