“I think” – Enzo Maresca delivers interesting Jorrel Hato verdict after Qarabag draw | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has delivered an interesting verdict on the performance of Jorrel Hato as Chelsea dropped points against Qarabag.

The Blues were held to a 2-2 draw in Azerbaijan on Wednesday night in a game they should have won, but they turned in a disappointing performance.

Estevao gave Chelsea the lead before Qarabag scored twice in the first half, with Alejandro Garnacho firing home the equaliser in the second half, but the Blues couldn’t find a winner.

Enzo Maresca delivers Jorrel Hato verdict

As has been the case this season Maresca once again made a number of changes to the line-up, with Hato handed a start at centre back alongside Tosin.

Hato made a number of mistakes and was arguably at fault for both goals Chelsea conceded, as he was caught on the ball in the build up to the first goal, and gave away the penalty for the second.

Hato had a tough time against Qarabag. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

It was comfortably his worst performance since joining in the summer from Ajax, but Maresca feels he actually started the game well and suffered from the performance level of the whole team dropping.

“I think Jorrel, like the team, started very good,” he told his post-match press conference.

“We were winning the game, we were in control. Then we started to make some mistakes that we need to improve and we need to avoid and for sure in the future we’re going to avoid that.”

Chelsea have serious defensive problems

Once again Chelsea turned in a poor defensive performance, and not for the first time this season conceded two poor goals.

More Stories / Latest News

“I think” – Enzo Maresca delivers interesting Jorrel Hato verdict after Qarabag draw

6th Nov 2025, 06:45am

“Absolute garbage” – talkSPORT pundit slams “£1billion” spending ‘worse than poo’ Chelsea

6th Nov 2025, 06:30am

“Only have ourselves to blame” – Chelsea player ‘disappointed’ with Qarabag draw

6th Nov 2025, 05:55am

Maresca has consistently chopped and changed his defensive pairing, and there’s no surprise to see no consistency in defensive performances.

Rotation needs to happen because of the Club World Cup exploits and squad management, but fielding a different centre back pack pairing virtually every game is going to lead to more mistakes being made, and he must decide on a first choice pairing.