I don’t punish – Enzo Maresca defends light-touch discipline amid red-card run | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said he favours a light touch when it comes to disciplining his young squad – just as he does when dealing with his children.

The Blues have been shown red cards in each of their last four matches and in five of their last six in all competitions, with the Italian himself dismissed at the end of the 2-1 win against Liverpool earlier this month.

Costlier dismissals came last month against Manchester United, when goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was sent off after five minutes, and against Brighton, when Trevoh Chalobah received a red card — both leading to defeats.

“Personally I’m not that kind of manager to punish players, I don’t think it’s the right way to do things,” Maresca said. “I prefer to help them to understand and to do the right things.”

The trend continued during Saturday’s win at Nottingham Forest, Malo Gusto walking for a second yellow card when Chelsea were already 3-0 up in the final few minutes, meaning he will miss the visit of Sunderland to Stamford Bridge at the weekend.

Joao Pedro will be absent from Wednesday’s Champions League clash at home to Ajax following a second booking in the final minute of the win over Benfica in the team’s last European outing.

Despite the disruption caused by bans at a moment when Maresca is contending with injuries throughout the side, he said he preferred direction over discipline when it comes to keeping his players in line.

“I have four kids. When they do something wrong, I don’t punish them, I try to teach them to do the right things. I try to treat the players in the same way, to try to help them to understand.

“This is the way I see things. It can be right or wrong, I don’t know. But it’s the way I like to do things.”

Maresca was fined £8,000 and handed a one-match touchline ban for his exuberant celebrations following Estevao Willian’s stoppage-time winner against the champions on October 4.

Internally, however, he revealed his squad have devised their own methods of meting out discipline among themselves.

“The players have a system inside the changing room in terms of fines,” the Italian said. “It’s something that they manage.”

There was good news on the injury front with the issue that kept Enzo Fernandez out of the win at the City Ground deemed not to be serious.

And Liam Delap, who was expected to be sidelined until December with a hamstring injury sustained against Fulham in August, is close to returning to first-team training.

“Liam is very close,” Maresca said. “He’s not working with us yet, but hopefully he can start in the next days to take part in sessions with us.

“Enzo took part (on Monday). We have one more session, we’ll see what we decide for (Wednesday). It’s not something we have to be worried about, it’s just to try and protect him.”