Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has walked back on his insistance that the Blues do not have a disciplinary problem, now confessing the players need to learn how to avoid meaningless bookings during games.
After Liam Delap picked up Chelsea’s fifth red card of the season so far in the nervy 4–3 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup fourth round midweek, Maresca abandoned his usually calm demeanour in favour of publicly criticising Delap, brandishing his dismissal as “stupid and embarrassing” as he accused the striker of “playing for himself.”
Maresca grouped Delap alongside Malo Gusto and João Pedro, both of whom were sent off earlier this season for two yellow cards, as players who needed to learn how to control themselves on the pitch, highlighting the difference between those dismissals and the straight red cards shown to Robert Sánchez and Trevoh Chalobah for denying goalscoring opportunities.
“If I say that we need to avoid a red card, it’s we need to avoid red card,” Maresca told Friday’s press conference. “I say what I think is correct to say.
“Sometimes we had a red card that was difficult to avoid and sometimes we had some a red card that we could avoid.”
Once again asked whether Chelsea have a squad-wide issue with discipline, Maresca conceded: “I think that some of the red cards that we concede, we can avoid it.
“It’s also something that we need to learn. Something that we have to do better. And for sure, no doubt that in the future we’re going to be better also on that.”
Maresca: No Issues With Delap After Public Criticism
Maresca’s brutal message to Delap after the win over Wolves was, unsurprisingly, one of the main topics of conversation from the press conference, given the harsh nature of his words.
Maresca admitted his use of English as a second language may have made his comments come across stronger than planned, but he doubled down on his belief that Delap, who apologised to the squad immediately after the game, needs to work on his discipline.
“I didn’t need to speak with Liam,” Maresca continued. “I spoke with Liam, but Liam, he knows everything. He’s aware of the situation. He knows that he made a mistake. And full stop. No more than that.
“Probably because I’m not from England so sometimes when I try to translate from Italian to English, sometimes it’s a bit different. Liam, when he’s inside the pitch, is more focused to do his battle against the central defender than the rest. This was what I was telling, what I was trying to say after that game.
“There are three players in this team that I know them better than the rest. Roméo Lavia, Cole Palmer and Liam Delap because I know them from the Under-21s [at Manchester City], four years ago. So I know Liam always and I know that Liam will be a fantastic player for us but there are some things like the rest that he needs to improve.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Enzo Maresca Fires Strong Warning to Chelsea Over Disciplinary Issues.