(Video): “Maresca got everything wrong” and sporting directors should take blame too – ESPN pundits | OneFootball

Julien Laurens and Gab Marcotti looked back on Chelsea’s weekend defeat to Newcastle on their podcast, and as we noted before, Laurens took no prisoners when discussing Nicolas Jackson’s red card.

Pundit slams “unacceptable” Jackson

“I’m sorry but I have to slaughter Nico Jackson again. Getting a red card in the way that he did, at the time he did, to penalise his team the way he did… is unacceptable,” the pundit said.

“I thought it was disgraceful, really embarrassing, from a player of this calibre, at a club like that, at this point in the season with what is at stake… if Chelsea were to miss out on the Champions League next season, he would be the one to be blamed, in this game especially I thought that was really unacceptable.”

You can see their discussion in the clip embedded here:

Maresca and Chelsea squad planners deserve blame too

Enzo Maresca on the touchline against Newcastle. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

But Jackson wasn’t the only topic to be discussed. Marcotti decided to put a lot more blame on Enzo Maresca for his decisions before the game:

“I think Maresca got everything wrong at the start in the way that they set up, and the club need to share [the blame]. Who’s the alternative to Nico Jackson? Is it Marc Guiu? Christopher Nkunku has had his bags packed all season and also isn’t even a centre forward. Tyrique George? Also not a centre forward. This is squad construction. This is on you guys.”

This is all totally in line with what we said at the time, and shows that these problems are strikingly obvious even to those who aren’t covering Chelsea in depth week in, week out. You just can’t go into a season with one senior striker – and this is why.