4 from 15: bizarre Enzo Maresca’s decision leaves Chelsea fans confused and frustrated | OneFootball

When we saw the lineup for today’s game against Fulham we were pretty surprised.

We drew our previous fixture, against Everton, in a game where we looked tired. We expected a shake up, and were shocked to see it was effectively the same team that struggled at Goodison Park.

We speculated the plan was to try and take the lead against Fulham with our strongest side and then make changes. That was the only way picking a team with such a lack of rotation made sense to us. When Chelsea took the lead through Cole Palmer’s early strike, everything seemed to be going to plan.

Yet by full time the scores had been reversed, and Chelsea had somehow made just ONE change. That made it 4 subs from a possible 15 in the last 3 league games.

While Fulham used all their 5, refreshed the team and got better and better, Enzo Maresca mystifyingly left his starters out there, gradually losing control of the game.

Not only have they lost today, they’ve also added another 90 minutes to their legs ahead of a Monday night game against Ipswich, which is then followed by a Saturday game against Crystal Palace.

These games were supposed to be a run of easy wins – instead we’ve had a draw and a defeat despite playing our best players for 180 minutes.

Maresca has a lot of credit to spend – but today has cost him a wedge

Enzo Maresca on the touchline in the win over Shamrock Rovers. (Photo by: Crystal Pix/MB Media)

For a manager who has made such a great start to life as Chelsea manager, and who has impressed fans so much in a short period of time, it was the most frustrating and puzzling set of decisions for the season.

Of course Maresca has so much credit in the bank that this will soon be forgotten. But a home defeat to your neighbours with tired players toiling while attacking talent sits on the bench is the kind of thing that quickly erodes that credit.