On a ferocious night in Newcastle came the first major blip of Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea reign, his team of second-stringers hassled out of the Carabao Cup by a home side playing with a different level of urgency and intent en route to a 2-0 win.
In recent midweeks, this group of Chelsea players had cruised past Gent, Barrow and a weakened Panathinaikos by an aggregate score of 13-3 and perhaps the lack of jeopardy in those victories had a softening effect.
This, by contrast, was a Premier League fixture only three days ago and the Blues arrived on Tyneside unprepared for another, in all but name.
From the returning Anthony Gordon’s first-minute challenge through to the half-time whistle, Eddie Howe’s men were relentless and Maresca’s seemingly startled by a fizzing atmosphere and the scarcity of time and space to play.
They were naive, too, in failing to sense a game ripe for running away as they fell, with maddening repetition, into Newcastle’s high-pressing traps.
Perhaps their captain, a World Cup-winning, £100million midfielder, should have been the ideal candidate to either gain a central foothold or inspire a change in approach, but Enzo Fernandez was just about the most culpable of the lot.
The Argentine was one of at least three players at fault for Newcastle’s opener, which was surprising only in taking as long 23 minutes to arrive.
Axel Disasi’s pass to an under-pressure Renato Veiga was unhelpful to say the least and the Portuguese was weak as Joelinton challenged. Fernandez then froze, other than to wave his arms in protest, allowing Sandro Tonali to make a simple pass to his unmarked centre-forward of what should have been a 50-50 ball. Isak, for third game in succession against the Blues, slotted home.
Frazzled by the onslaught, Chelsea sought respite in all the wrong places. Instead of using their pacy outlets, they continued to play from deep and slackened off for an ill-advised breather at a Newcastle free-kick.
Isak was alive, demanding a quick pass into an open channel. What Disasi was doing eventually toeing the forward’s deflected cross into his own net is anyone’s guess. In the space of four minutes, the game was gone.
The half-time numbers felt like statistical gaslighting. Chelsea had had two-thirds of the ball, completed twice as many passes and had three times as many shots on goal. And yet make no mistake about it, they had been battered.
How much does their exit matter? There are (now, were) five competitions open to Chelsea this season, one of which - the Conference League - is eminently more winnable, and Maresca will be judged most on Premier League performance, particularly since a strong start to the campaign has raised expectations of a top-four finish.
That Cole Palmer travelled but was not used here said plenty for the Italian’s priorities, with a Manchester United freed from Erik ten Hag’s leadership to come at Old Trafford this weekend.
But with Chelsea’s depth there really is no need or reason to be leaving opportunities on the table, and therefore no sugarcoating of this defeat with the idea that it might be beneficial for workload purposes in the long run.
Half of Maresca’s first-team watched this contest on the sofa, with feet up. When the quarter-finals are played next month, his whole squad will be in the same boat.
