“He told me…” – Enzo Maresca admits he played striker who said he wasn’t fit | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca’s team selection for tonight’s game against Brentford is already causing a stir.

He picked a team with a lot of changes, and the new lineup produced a dire first half with just one (very tame) shot on target against a Brentford team who are among the favourites to be relegated.

Maresca’s changes save the game – but lineup questioned

Chelsea’s team to face Brentford in the Premier League.

The Chelsea coach ended up making 3 changes at half time, plus one shortly after. The team improved massively and turned the game around, only to let it slip late on when conceding a long throw.

To be fair to him, he was in a very difficult position. He has injuries, players tired from international duty, and big games next week. It was always going to be a balancing act.

Maresca denies thinking ahead to Champions League affected team selection

However when asked whether today’s game, the manager denied that he was thinking about the midweek game against Bayern Munich to come next week when he picked the team:

“No, no, no, no, absolutely [not]. Joao Pedro, before the game, told me that he was not fit 100%, that it was better he doesn’t play. And so if I was thinking about Bayern Munich, Joao would have been on the bench. But Joao played because the focus was about tonight. But for sure, when you have so many games, you have to plan a different option.”

That doesn’t sound great either – he played his striker who said he wasn’t fit to play, then didn’t even get a win. It feels like he fell between two stools here – he could have gone strong for a win or weak to tolerate a draw. Instead he had to bring on the big guns – but didn’t even get the 3 points.