Enzo Maresca explains why he didn't bring Cole Palmer on during Chelsea's defeat by Newcastle
Cole Palmer was an unused substitute as Chelsea lost to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup, but manager Enzo Maresca has explained his decision to leave out the England star
by Tom Victor · The MirrorChelsea manager Enzo Maresca claims the form of the Blues' forwards meant he didn't need to bring on Cole Palmer at Newcastle, despite his team drawing a blank.
Maresca's predecessor Mauricio Pochettino led Chelsea to last season's Carabao Cup final, losing to Liverpool at Wembley. There will be no repeat this season, though, with the London side beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United on Wednesday.
The damage was done before half-time, with Alexander Isak opening the scoring and Newcastle doubling their lead through an Axel Disasi own goal. Chelsea created plenty of chances, ending the match with 17 shots, but couldn't find a way past Nick Pope in the home goal.
After the game, Maresca was asked why he didn't bring seven-goal Palmer off the bench. He responded by saying he didn't want to remove Joao Felix or Christopher Nkunku after being impressed by the pair.
"[It was] imply because I think Joao and Christo were doing very good," Maresca said. "The reason why [Palmer travelled] was in case we needed Cole but Joao and Christo were doing well so there was no need to change.
"If we analyse the result, it didn’t work. But I think for 22 or 23 minutes, until their goal, we were in control of the game, we didn’t concede nothing,’ the Italian added. "But then after the goal, we lost the control for 10 minutes and then conceded the second one."
Arguing Chelsea were in control of the game during the second half, Maresca reiterated his satisfaction with the how his team played. "The most important thing, as we always say, is the result but the performance, we lost the game because of 10 minutes after the first goal and then for the rest, we were quite good," he said.
Should Chelsea have given Cole Palmer minutes? Have your say in the comments section
Maresca wasn't the only manager to leave one of his stars on the bench in midweek. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola refused to turn to Erling Haaland even as his Manchester City team suffered elimination at the hands of Tottenham, but defended his decision.
"The plan was not to play [Haaland] today," said Guardiola, who saw Savinho and Manuel Akanji join City's growing injury list. "We have not had much recovery and it was a waste of energy."
The Catalan boss said Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker have "no chance" of playing City's next game. He claimed the club had just 13 senior players available, with Rodri and Oscar Bobb among the longer-term absentees.
City are up against Bournemouth on Saturday as they look to remain unbeaten in the league with their depleted squad. Maresca's Chelsea return to action one day later against Manchester United, who earned a cup win of their own against Leicester on Wednesday to set up a quarter-final meeting with Spurs in North London.
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