Maresca’s hesitation allowed “obvious point” for Palace to attack claims Athletic | OneFootball

Chelsea’s game against Crystal Palace at the weekend was a really interesting battle in the end. In a game we would have been expected to win (certainly in the form of a few weeks ago), Oliver Glasner’s side did a great job shutting us down and gradually earned their right to play.

By the end, the home team looked strong and had worked out how to play against us.

As Liam Twomey noted for the Athletic, the majority of action came down Chelsea’s left. It was on that flank that Jadon Sancho span his marker and dashed in behind the Palace defence before squaring the ball for Cole Palmer to open the scoring.

But it was also down that side that the home team had most of their joy. Sancho defended well early on but started to tire, and Enzo Maresca stubbornly left him out there. That meant Palace had more and more success in isolating Marc Cucurella, who is positionally suspect at the best of times.

As Twomey pointed out, that flank was both Chelsea’s strength and weakness in the game:

“As with many other things in football, it is all about finding the balance. Chelsea’s left-sided combination of Sancho and Cucurella can be a real source of alternative creativity for this team, but it also offers Premier League opponents an obvious point to pick at defensively.”

Chelsea’s uncertain left side faded as Palace grew

Marc Cucurella in action against Ipswich. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

With Mykhailo Mudryk suspended, we have one fewer option on the left. But we’ve seen Joao Felix play out there and have great success, and we could also have switched Pedro Neto to that side and put Noni Madueke on earlier.

Instead, Maresca’s hesitancy to make changes allowed our strong point to become our weak point.