Maresca defends sub decision for key player after Leeds defeat | OneFootball

Estevao Willian’s recent fortunes have been much like Chelsea’s. He was getting better and better, and consecutive good performances as a sub earned him starts, first against Barcelona and then against Arsenal and Leeds.

Maresca explains decision to take off attacking starlet in difficult situation

Enzo Maresca takes his pre-match press conference.

It’s fair to say that he didn’t thrive in those games, and against Arsenal and Leeds he was taken off at half time. Enzo Maresca was asked in his press conference about the decision to take the winger off on Wednesday night, and whether that was because the opposition were singling him out for rough treatment:

“My feeling was not that Leeds targeted him. I think my feeling after the game is that Leeds, they target all our players. It was not just Estevao. For him, my comment after the game is because he’s 18, he’s from Brazil, he probably didn’t know where we were going to play,” the manager explained.

“The English players, they know Leeds, how it is. Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, you know, they are all stadiums but they are a bit different compared to the rest in terms of environment. And it’s something that will be a process for him to be better and better. That’s why I said many times… it’s too easy to put him always on the pitch, you know, pitch, pitch, play, play, play. In some moments, we need to try to manage him a little bit.”

In other presser news…

Maresca didn’t hold back when he was asked about whether his team needed more experience, pointing to one player who had experience who hadn’t played well in the game.

The Chelsea manager defended his rotation policy in general, making some very fair points about the players he had chosen to leave out for the Leeds game.