Maresca admits to lack of “control” from Enzo Fernandez; explains odd Palmer decision | OneFootball

There was a lot of criticism of Enzo Fernandez’s form tonight – in fact there’s been quite a lot of criticism of his form all season.

Chelsea lost and he was poor, and given he was a first team player a few weeks ago – and is of course the most expensive Premier League signing ever. That’s always going to draw attention.

Speaking in his press conference tonight, Enzo Maresca was given a chance to criticise his midfielder. And he didn’t fully turn it down. He admitted the midfielder hadn’t had his best game, but refused to single him out too much, pointing out that his whole team had had similar issues.

Enzo Maresca touches his brow after Newcastle defeat. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

“For ten minute we lost control, probably in that moment we needed more control. But it’s not only from Enzo, it’s general. ”

Fernandez’ role in the team is supposed to be about giving that control. If he doesn’t have that, he’s really struggling, that’s the reality.

You can see the coach speaking in the clip embedded here, with these words coming after 4 minutes:

Maresca’s Palmer excuse doesn’t ring true

There were also questions post game about Cole Palmer and why he hadn’t come on with his team losing.

“Simply because I think Joao [Felix] and Christo[pher Nkunku] were doing very good… so there was not a need to change,” Maresca claimed.

I mean, no matter how well your attacking players are doing, you’d still bring on your best and most in form player if you REALLY wanted a goal, Enzo… but we take your point.

It does seem a little silly that Cole had to travel all the way to Newcastle if he wasn’t even going to play half an hour with his team losing and going out of the cup. But in general we back resting him, so we can’t complain now.