Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca watched from the stands as two different Chelsea teams appeared in the same match on Saturday, and the wasteful first group may make him more upset than the leaky second.
The Blues dominated Aston Villa for nearly an hour but only turned it into a single goal, then gave up control of the match and saw the visitors claim all three points at Stamford Bridge.
MORE — Chelsea v Aston Villa recap, video highlights
Maresca’s men controlled the ball and the danger for so much of the game but suddenly found themselves needing heroics from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez just to stay in the game.
And so instead of using a good performance to move within shouting distance of third-place Aston Villa, Chelsea will put fifth place in the balance against several comers over the next few days.
Enzo Maresca reaction to blown lead, poor finishing in Chelsea loss to Aston Villa
What happened today? “For one hour we dominated the game, we were very good. Unfortunately after that the dynamic changed but by the time they made it 1-1 we should’ve scored three or four.”
“The first half and the first 15 minutes of the second half we should’ve scored more goals.”
Did their subs change the game? “The goal we conceded changed the dynamic of the game. For sure the changes they’ve done, but the goal we conceded changed the dynamic.”
Cole Palmer not yet fit enough for 90 minutes or was his sub tactical? “He was working very good in terms of off the ball and on the ball. I think we was a bit tired but overall he had a good game.”
Do you need more experience to see out games like this? “It’s a game that if you analyze the first hour, you are not thinking about experience but then we struggled with that. The change they made with [Amadou] Onana, Jadon [Sancho], they pulled away a little bit.”
How do you pick the boys up after a loss like this? “It’s a strong one because they can see they didn’t deserve [to lose] — also you see the difference between us and them in this moment is 10 points. What you saw on the pitch doesn’t reflect that.”
