Enzo Maresca: ‘Every Chelsea game I feel bad, I feel shame’

Enzo Maresca has revealed he feels ‘bad’ and ‘ashamed’ about the number of Chelsea players at his disposal.

The Blues’ upward trend under the Italian tactician continued on Sunday as Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. It came after a comfortable midweek victory over Greek giants Panathinaikos, with things going relatively smoothly so far for Maresca.

However, one problem the head coach has faced is player selection. Chelsea, having spent well over €1 billion since the Todd Boehly takeover, have an abundance of talent on their roster, particularly in attacking positions.

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This means that players like Christopher Nkunku and Joao Felix have to start important games on the bench despite the fact that the former in particular has been in very good form this season.

Maresca feels ‘bad’ about player selection

The days of Chelsea having north of 40 senior players in their squad and no room at the training ground are gone, but the luxury problem of having expensive stars who can’t get regular Premier League minutes persists.

Asked about his squad depth after the Newcastle game, Maresca admitted that he feels ‘bad’ and ‘ashamed’ about having to omit players who would start for most clubs.

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“Every game I feel bad, I feel shame because I have to leave players out, but it is the only way to try to compete. No matter how many changes we do, it is important that the style is there and the identity is there.”

With Chelsea sitting in fifth, Maresca again reiterated that he was not told before the season that top four is a must. “I said many times that the club never mentioned about top four. They just mentioned to try to build something important. We will see.”