Chelsea suffered a crushing 2-1 loss against Atalanta last night, leaving themselves in 11th place in the Champions League table.
The Blues look like a shadow of the team that recently defeated Barcelona and pushed Arsenal to the brink with only ten men.
The Blues’ biggest problem is manager Enzo Maresca’s inability to learn from his mistakes.
The Italian tactician recently admitted that he made a mistake against Leeds United by playing Tosin Adarabioyo ahead of Josh Acheampong.
Thinking Leeds would play a lot of long balls, Maresca opted for Adarabioyo, but he gave away a goal and produced a dodgy performance. It is a recurring theme.
Adarabioyo is enduring a massive downturn in form and has been prone to mistakes. Ideally, he should be on the bench.
Unfortunately, Maresca failed to learn from his mistake and summoned Adarabioyo when Wesley Fofana went down against Atalanta.
Maresca could have shifted Acheampong to centre-back, moved Malo Gusto to right-back and brought on Andrey Santos to shore up the midfield.
He brought on Adarabioyo, who gave away the needless foul that eventually led to Atalanta’s winner.
Maresca needs to understand that Adarabioyo is currently a liability for Chelsea. He needs to be dropped to avoid costing Chelsea more points.
The manager needs to stick with the first-choice pairing of Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana. The Blues look miles better when they start.
Acheampong should be directly behind the duo in the pecking order. Adarabioyo should be out of the first team picture for several weeks. Benoit Badiashile can deputise when needed.
