Squad rotation has been as central to Enzo Maresca’s early management of Chelsea as balls, bibs and cones. But in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup exit at Newcastle, for the first time in his tenure, the Italian got it wrong.
The Blues crashed out with a 2-0 defeat on Tyneside and thus missed out on a home quarter-final against Brentford on a night when Manchester City’s exit gave the competition a suddenly open feel.
Having arrived this summer to a squad list as long as your arm, Maresca was ruthless in dividing his troops into the wanted and washed, and since the close of the transfer window has effectively managed two teams’ worth of senior players, even the second string of which is littered with expensive purchases and full internationals who came to west London expecting to play.
There was no reason, then, to gripe with Chelsea showing 11 changes for Wednesday night’s meeting at St James’ Park, as has been Maresca’s policy most midweeks. Starting Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall out of position on the right wing - something he did not do once in their year together at Leicester - was probably unnecessary, but this reserve crop of players have been impressive, winning their previous three outings across Europe and in this competition by an aggregate score of 13-3.
When, though, a re-energised Newcastle and a ferocious home atmosphere proved too hot, Maresca offered barely a response. He made only one substitution, sending on Noni Madueke, left Cole Palmer strangely unused and had nowhere else to turn, having given Nicolas Jackson and Pedro Neto, as well as his first-choice midfield pairing, the night off.
The reluctance to use Palmer, having brought him to Newcastle, was most puzzling.
“If he's here, it's because he can get minutes,” Maresca said himself when asked ahead of kick-off, yet the visitors played more than an hour two goals down and still their best player went through the cycle of warming up, then warming the bench.
It’s difficult to know in what scenario Palmer would have been summoned if not this. Perhaps had Joao Felix scored a fine second-half chance to halve the deficit, but then Palmer’s quality is such that one attack, one opening, with him on the field could have made it 2-1 and set the game alight.
“I thought Joao and Christopher [Nkunku] were doing very good,” Maresca said when asked why Palmer had remained a spectator as his side drifted towards the exit door. “It was just in case we needed Cole but because Joao and Christo were doing well, there was not a need to change.”
That does not really wash, though, because at 2-0 down and heading out of the cup, substitutions do not have to be like-for-like.
Chelsea have been sensible in their management of Palmer in the early part of this season, leaving him out of their squad for the group stage of the Conference League amid workload concerns, after he went from City occasional to more than 50 games for club and country in the space of one campaign.
Chelsea have been sensible in their management of Palmer, but would a cameo at Newcastle really have hurt?
The result is that the 22-year-old is averaging roughly one start per week since the start of the season. He has not been used as a substitute since August and had not even been named as one in Chelsea’s last three midweek outings. Would a half-hour cameo on Wednesday really have hurt?
Clearly, for whatever reason, Maresca saw it unfit, which begs the question as to why he left himself so few other attacking options on the bench. Jadon Sancho, who would presumably have started, was ill, but why not have Neto or the in-form Jackson available to play?
Liverpool brought Mohamed Salah off the bench at Brighton on Wednesday, while Arsenal used Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz even when already cruising at Preston. Chelsea’s only other forward among the substitutes was 18-year-old Marc Guiu, who is yet to score for the club.
Maresca’s approach may well be vindicated, in part at Old Trafford on Sunday and perhaps in full by the end of the season, should his team remain fresh as others fade.
But with a little more flexibility and foresight, they might still be in all five available competitions this morning - and surely not at intolerable cost.
