Maresca played “not 100% fit” Palmer three games in a row and it has to end now | OneFootball

Chelsea were beaten by Manchester United in a really painful game in the rain at Old Trafford today, but the consequences could go well beyond a frustrating evening.

Palmer risk from manager backfires

Enzo Maresca with a Chelsea News logo. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

We had pleaded with manager Enzo Maresca to leave out Cole Palmer today, but he did just that. Palmer has been nursing a groin injury all season, and missed a couple of games before being brought on against Brentford last week.

Less than a third of the way through the game today, the attacking midfielder signalled that he needed to come off, then disappeared down the tunnel looking dejected.

It was especially frustrating because Chelsea were down to ten men and had used 2 subs already at that point.

Maresca not doing his job to manage players’ fitness

Speaking after the game today in his press conference, Maresca explained what his take on things was:

“Cole, he tried this morning, he had a test this morning to play this game, he was not 100% fit, he made a fantastic effort to play this game, but he was not 100%.

“Yeah, it’s a problem that it’s already a long time for him, he’s growing. Again, he did this morning a test, he wanted to play this game for the team, to be close, so the effort has been huge from him, but then after 20 minutes he started to feel something, so we decided to change him.”

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Palmer never should have played against Brentford, and certainly shouldn’t have played for 97 minutes against Bayern Munich in midweek. He definitely aggravated his issue there.

Even if Palmer is pushing to play, Maresca has to be strong and leave him out. He’s been here for a year now, he should have a way of creating chances without the number 10.