Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca flips after Newcastle cup loss and turns on two players

Enzo Maresca pointed the finger at Chelsea players Renato Veiga and Romeo Lavia after his side were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle. The much-changed Blues lost 2-0 at St James’ Park, courtesy of Alexander Isak’s strike and an own goal from Axel Disasi.

Both those goals came before the break, and although the visitors improved in the second half, they failed to cope with the intense attacking play and pressing of the home side.

The result came just three days after Chelsea had beaten the same side 2-1 at home in the Premier League, and afterwards Maresca pinpointed where he felt things went wrong.

“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 Moi (Moises Caicedo) and Romeo (Lavia) and today it was 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. We are sad we lost the game, of course, because it’s something we don’t like but now we have two days to prepare for the next game.”

The Italian’s decision to leave a number of first-team regulars on the bench ultimately backfired, with only Noni Madueke brought on during the second half. Most notably, Cole Palmer was left on the sidelines throughout despite Chelsea struggling to create chances.

Maresca however, argued Joao Felix, who poked wide late on, and Christopher Nkunku didn’t merit being taken off. And he also pushed back against suggestions making Palmer travel was a waste of time.

“Joao and Christo were doing very good,” he said. “The reason why was because in case we needed Cole but they were doing well so we didn’t need to change.”

Isak’s opener came in the 23rd minute, with Disasi’s embarrassing mishap coming moments later. But Maresca, somewhat questionably, insisted his team were on top until that point.

“For 20 minutes until their goal, we were in control of the game,” he said. “In the last 10 minutes of the first-half, we had two clear cut chances but didn’t score and in the second-half, we were in control of the game.”

The rotation does come ahead of a critical period for Chelsea. They now face Premier League games against Manchester United and Arsenal, either side of a home clash against Noah in the Europa Conference League.