“I wanted to give…” – Maresca’s explanation for surprise striker selection snub doesn’t add up | OneFootball

One of the more curious things about Enzo Maresca’s team selection for tonight was that he left Marc Guiu out of the squad entirely.

The striker has only just been brought back to the club to fill in for the injured Liam Delap… yet the first game he’s available for, he wasn’t even on the bench. It’s all rather curious.

Enzo explains his strange Marc Guiu call

Marc Guiu at Selhurst Park. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Speaking to the media after the game, Maresca tried to explain his decision:

“Marc is a striker and we know him from last year but in this moment we needed to leave one of them out of the squad. I also wanted to give Ty [George] a little bit of confidence. He did quite well versus Fulham and was okay today.”

We’re not sure that quite adds up. Ok, so you give some confidence to George, but you take away an equal amount (perhaps more) from Guiu, who has seen his loan cut short so he can help the team out up front… and is then left out of the squad entirely.

It’s some man management that’s hard to get your head around. Describing George’s performance as merely “OK” is hardly going to make him feel amazing either, if that’s your intention.

Maresca on triple half time change

There were more interesting answers about the selection decisions he made tonight and the changes that rectified them in the second half.

There weren’t too many surprises when he changed 3 players at half time – that’s just how bad his side were in the first half. But according to Maresca, it was all planned. Wesley Fofana was never meant to play more than 45 minutes, nor was Facundo Buonanotte. Jorrel Hato… well he was just bad, and on a booking.