Last season's return to European football after a year away from it was supposed to be useful preparation for this totally rebuilt Chelsea squad. The fact it was only the Conference League in midweek meant Enzo Maresca was able to rotate his team fully, regularly changing 11 players for a game. It seems like that lulled everyone involved into a false sense of security about how ready this squad was for a Champions League return.
Last season's return to European football after a year away from it was supposed to be useful preparation for this totally rebuilt Chelsea squad. In fact, it looks like it has had the opposite effect.
The fact it was only the Conference League in midweek meant Enzo Maresca was able to rotate his team fully, regularly changing 11 players for a game. It seems like that lulled everyone involved into a false sense of security about how ready this squad was for a Champions League return.
You cannot weaken your team to take on Bayern Munich or Barcelona. In fact, most of these games will require the first team. Last week, Maresca tried to rotate against Brentford and ended up caught between two stools.
He brought on the big guns at half-time and drew anyway.
The first team then played against Bayern in midweek and looked predictably knackered from about the 50th minute. Some 72 hours later, an almost identical line-up was being wheeled out at Manchester United.
The less said about the confusing subs in that game, the better.
The manager and his squad still have time to figure these things out, and the depth will improve as injured players return.
But the decisions to replace the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke with less experienced players who are not ready to be Champions League starters already looks short sighted.
Find more from Will Faulks at Chelsea News
Category: General Sports
