'Not good enough' - Enzo Maresca takes dig at Chelsea veteran after poor display vs Leeds | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has played down claims that the lack of experience has cost this young Chelsea side games, including Wednesday's 3-1 defeat to Leeds United.

According to Transfermarkt, Chelsea have fielded the youngest team in the Premier League this season with an average age of just 23.3.

It could be easy at times to chalk up some losses to the inconsistency that comes with having such a young squad.

Chelsea also only have a handful of first-team players at the age of 25 or over, such as Tosin Adarabioyo (28), Robert Sanchez (28), Marc Cucurella (27), Trevoh Chalobah (26), Reece James (25), and Pedro Neto (25).

Maresca made it clear that he does not think Chelsea made a mistake not bringing in more older players during the transfer windows.

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"We always talk about (the lack of) experience when we drop points," the Chelsea head coach said in Friday's press conference.

"When we beat Barcelona and drew with Arsenal, no one mentioned (anything) about experienced players.

"I understand that when we don't win, we're always looking for the reason, but I think why we didn't win against Leeds is not because of experience but because we weren't good enough."

Maresca further added that Chelsea have experienced players in their squad, although some of them could not be on the pitch, such as Moises Caicedo (suspension) and Reece James (load management).

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"Who was the oldest player for us on the pitch (against Leeds)?" Maresca asked when making his point.

"Tosin. Did he play well? So, it's not about experience. It's about the 11 players plus (the substitutes), they were not good enough."

"It's a bad game for all of us."

Unfortunately for Adarabioyo, he had to be made an example there, but Maresca made a fair point.

The former Fulham defender was, relatively speaking, the veteran on the pitch for Chelsea, and he was the one who made a costly error that led to Leeds' third goal.

That said, while Adarabioyo is among the veterans at Chelsea in terms of age, he has not exactly had a lot of experience as a part of a side that are challenging for the Premier League title.

There is no doubt that this Chelsea side would have benefited from having additional leaders, such as Thiago Silva, for example, who are truly experienced at the top level.