Maresca’s Honest Verdict After Early Red Card Sinks Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca admitted he would have rather conceded a goal than have to deal with losing his goalkeeper inside five minutes.

WHAT HAPPENED?

In Saturday evening’s big Premier League game, Chelsea saw their unbeaten start to the season end as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United. However, the damage appeared to be done as early as the fifth minute when No.1 Rob Sanchez was sent off. The Spaniard brought down an onrushing Bryan Mbeumo when he was clean through on goal after a rare piece of incisive play from United. While he kept the scores level, he reduced Chelsea to 10 men and forced an early tactical rejig from Maresca. United eventually took advantage to inflict a first Premier League loss of the season on Chelsea.

WHAT THEY SAID

After the game, Maresca was left to lament anything but the bright start as well as challenging Sanchez’s decision to bring down Mbeumo. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “In the first four minutes we were creating problems for them, I can tell you that. But after five or six minutes we had a mistake, where Robert was better to let Mbeumo score than getting the red card. We still had 95 minutes to play and that moment it was a big mistake for us. He knows about that, but it’s a mistake from a goalkeeper. A goalkeeper can have mistakes. It is better not to have it, of course, but this is what it is.” On whether he has sympathy for Sanchez, “Yeah of course I have sympathy for him. At the end of the day it was a mistake but it is difficult in that moment, just a few seconds to react the way he has to react. It is difficult. But as I said before, if you ask me, I prefer the first five minutes to be one goal down than one player down.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

The defeat saw Chelsea drop out of the top four as they slipped down to sixth in the table after their match against Manchester United, placing them only one point ahead of 11th placed United. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was keen to shake off any external thoughts beyond this looking inwards: “This Premier League is so tough, for any reason one team plays a double game, they are all coming back. So, it’s about us what we can do every single week, that is the most important thing. It doesn’t matter where we are in one week. It is important about what we do week after week. Minute game after minute game.” Chelsea currently sits fifth in the Premier League table after drawing with Brentford last weekend.

WHAT NEXT?

Sanchez will likely miss Chelsea’s next clash as they welcome Brighton to Stamford Bridge. He will be forced to watch on from the sidelines with Jorgensen set to deputize in his absence.