Enzo Maresca fumes over David Brooks decision and admits Chelsea drop-off 'not normal' | OneFootball

Italian angered by decision not to send off Bournemouth winger following Marc Cucurella incident

Enzo Maresca was left fuming after David Brooks escaped a red card in Chelsea’s incident-packed draw with Bournemouth, but admitted his side’s second-half drop-off is “not normal”.

Justin Kluivert’s penalty and a superb strike from Antoine Semenyo had seen the Cherries turn the game on its head, but in between, Andoni Iraola’s side were perhaps fortunate to keep 10 men on the pitch after Brooks clashed with Marc Cucurella.

“I said many times, for me, if there is no intention to take the ball, it’s a red,” Maresca said. “They have to explain [it]. If they give a yellow, that means something happened.

“So, how can they judge that it was not dangerous? You cannot judge that it was not dangerous.

“The intention was just to go against Marc Cucurella. In my opinion, it’s a red. Hopefully, we can be more lucky with the referee in the future.”

Chelsea have developed an unwanted habit of squandering leads in recent weeks, throwing away 1-0 advantages against both Crystal Palace and Fulham during a winless league run that now stands at five matches.

The Blues missed a hatful of chances in a dominant first-half display against Bournemouth but failed to control what became a chaotic game after Kluivert’s spot-kick early in the second half.

“For the way we were playing, there was only one team on the pitch and that was Chelsea in the first half,” Maresca said. “The way we were playing, after the penalty, it’s not normal that we drop in the way we dropped. We need to understand the reason why and try to improve that.

“I have no doubt as well that the players need to go through this kind of moment and live this kind of moment.”

On his side’s lack of ruthlessness, the Italian added: “In some parts of the season you are lucky and you create one chance you score one goal.

“At others, you need to create 10 chances to score one. In this moment, we are struggling to score goals but we haven’t struggled to create chances.”