Maresca Assesses Chelsea’s Response After Early Red Card in Manchester United Loss
MANCHESTER, England – Enzo Maresca acknowledged his tactical plans were disrupted by Robert Sanchez’s early red card but expressed satisfaction with his team’s reaction during a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
Chelsea were reduced to ten men within five minutes after Sanchez was sent off for a foul on Bryan Mbuemo. Manchester United capitalized on the advantage, taking a 2-0 lead through goals from Bruno Fernandes adn casemiro.
The match’s momentum shifted before halftime when Casemiro received a second yellow card, leveling the playing field.Chelsea later controlled possession for much of the second half, with Wesley Fofana having a goal disallowed for offside before Trevoh Chalobah headed in a goal to make it 2-1 in the final ten minutes. Despite a late push, including a goal-bound effort from Andrey Santos blocked in the closing moments, Chelsea couldn’t find an equalizer.
“After three or four minutes, it was rough for the way the red card became tough not only for Chelsea, it would become difficult for any club,” Maresca stated. ”For sure we could have started the game better, then the [casemiro] red card gave us the chance to come back in the game. We had two-three moments inside the box [in the second-half], but all the game changed after the red card, all the planning and everything, it doesn’t exist anymore.”
Maresca made swift changes following the sending off, bringing on Filip Jorgensen and Tosin in place of Estevao Willian and Pedro Neto. Cole Palmer was then substituted for Andrey Santos in the 21st minute.
Explaining the early substitutions, Maresca said, “The reason why we changed Pedro [Neto] and Estevao [Willian] was because they attack with the five players always, and we defend with the four, and we can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against them, I think we need to defend on the width, so we decided to go with the back five, this is the reason why.”
Regarding Palmer’s substitution, Maresca revealed, “Cole tried this morning, he had a test this morning to play this game, he was not 100 per cent fit, he made a fantastic effort to play this game, but he was not 100 per cent.” He added, “He did this morning a test, he wanted to play this game for the team, to be close, so the effort has been huge from him, but then after 20 minutes he started to feel something, so we decided to change him.”
