Maresca’s excuses for Joao Pedro stinker just don’t wash – he has plenty of options | OneFootball

It was a stinky performance all around for Chelsea today, very few players, if any, can say they did well.

Joao Pedro was particularly poor. We were told all week that playing Marc Guiu as a proper number 9 ahead of him would unlock the Brazilian, who it turns out is actually a number ten.

Well, unfortunately it didn’t work like that. The team created nothing in attack, and these two were among the worst on the pitch. Guiu took just 10 touches in the game, and contrary to the belief going into the game, JP marginally improved when he was moved up front.

Maresca defends injured Joao Pedro

Enzo Maresca on the touchline. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

In his press conference after the game, Enzo Maresca defended his striker by saying he’s playing hurt:

“Joao is not training every day because he is managing an injury problem. Moi is the same, Enzo is the same,” Maresca said.

“We have four or five players that have some problems and cannot work every day. They try to make the effort and play the game. Joao struggled a little bit today but all of the players did today, so it’s not just Joao.”

So even our fit players are injured. Still, Maresca has plenty of quality at his disposal. There are managers in this league doing more with less. If Joao Pedro is injured, play Estevao or Andrey Santos or Jamie Gittens or Facundo Buonanotte or Tyrique George or any one of our brilliant youth players.

In other news…

If you want to see just how poor Guiu was in leading the line and making space for JP, just check out his player ratings from the game collected here.

Trevoh Chalobah tried to explain the defeat at full time, but there just isn’t much to say. It’s simply not good enough.