Enzo Maresca explained why he decided to leave Chelsea without an attack through his replacement, which was defeated by Manchester United on Saturday.
Blue lost 2-1 at Old Trafford as first-half goals from Bruno Fernandez and Casemilo were enough to ease the pressure on Reuben Amorim.
That pressure has now been moved to Enzo Maresca, who is now criticised for his reaction to Robert Sanchez’s early red cards.
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Explaining his decision, Maresca stated:
“And we’re four people defend. We can defend when it’s 11-11, but I think we need to defend the 11 against 10. So we decided to go with the back five, which is why.
“And one more thing, Ghana, he was ready to continue, but Wes was tired for a long time and asked for a change, so we decided to change and go to Tirique and the idea was to give Garnacho.”
Asked whether the negative reaction of the crowd to Garnacho’s warm-up had an impact, Maresca insisted:
Danny Murphy said in the BBC’s match that day that day that Maresca alternative was “really negative.”
“It’s understandable that it brings extra defense and you can take off the attacker off, but after a few minutes, Palmer goes down 1-0 and then off,” he said.
“I felt that Neto and Cole Palmer came out was a really negative move. Well, I trust him (Palmer) said he’s a bit struggling with injuries, but he should have kicked him out first and left Neto for his pace.
“Even when we got guys at the second half level, they really didn’t have that much of a threat in the break, so there was only Joan Pedro who really had that progressive mentality to beat someone.”
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Wayne Rooney also believes Chelsea lacks “urgency” even after Chelsea lets Casemiro go to the end of the first half.
“They had all the imagination on the pitch, so I felt that was something Chelsea lacked,” Rooney said.
“They had a lot of possessions lined up in the second half, but they missed that creativity that Neto or Cole Palmer could bring them.
“I think the change was strange, but thankfully it came together.
“It was a strange game. When it came to ten guys, I think I just felt the urgency from Chelsea didn’t want to go back into the game.
“Obviously they got one goal back from the cross and there was no cross in the box. They score one goal and then another good chance.
“Slowly, left and right, yeah, the weather was bad, but if you’re a Chelsea fan, I’d like to see a little more urgently and get something out of the game.”
