- Marseca has been reluctant to make substitutions in a four-match winless run
- Joao Felix is among those to have regularly been unused substitutes recently
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! New formation, some new faces, but the optimism has gone at Old Trafford
When Joao Felix joined Chelsea in the summer, there was the obligatory interview with the club’s website. ‘I can’t wait to get started,’ the 25-year-old Portuguese said. Some would argue he is still waiting.
Felix has been an unused substitute in eight of the last 11 Premier League matches in which he was named on the bench, including Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace. In the three times he was brought on by Enzo Maresca, they were in the 81st, 86th and 89th minutes.
This is not to say Felix should be used week in, week out. Rather that he is a glaring £45million example of how Maresca is not the most proactive coach when it comes to such tweaking, as a potential game-changer whose creativity could occasionally prove helpful as legs tire.
First, a few statistics:
- Only three Premier League clubs have used fewer substitutes than Chelsea’s 74 – Crystal Palace (71), Manchester City (64) and Everton (58)
- The average time of Chelsea’s first substitute is in the 63rd minute with only three clubs waiting longer – Brentford (64), Fulham (65) and Ipswich (66)
- Jadon Sancho was the last substitute to score (Southampton on December 4) and Noni Madueke was the last to assist (Aston Villa on December 1)
Enzo Maresca is not proved to be the most proactive coach when tweaking with substitutes
Joao Felix has unused in eight of the last 11 Premier League games when named on the bench
Jadon Sancho was the last substitute to score for Chelsea against Southampton last month
Chelsea have conceded seven goals in the final 15 minutes of matches this season and their next Premier League opponents, Bournemouth, who are ranked towards the top of the table for total substitutes used, have scored more in that period than any other side, 12 in total.
Maresca is right to dispute the size of his squad after Chelsea were mocked in the summer, but the depth? That is up there with the Premier League’s best, the talent coming out of Cobham included. It is a roster so large that they can name an entirely new team in the Conference League and still win every match.
There was an intriguing exchange in Maresca’s post-match press conference at Selhurst Park. He was asked why he had stopped utilising his substitutes.
It was a fair question. Amid this four-game winless run, he has used two at Everton (Christopher Nkunku after 75 minutes, Madueke after 76), one at home to Fulham (Nkunku after 73), four at Ipswich (Nicolas Jackson after 55, Sancho after 65, Pedro Neto and Malo Gusto after 77, all once 2-0 down) and two at Crystal Palace (Marc Guiu after 81, Madueke after 86).
And so Maresca was asked the reason. He fired back his own question, asking who specifically he should have swapped. The to-and-fro concluded with Chelsea’s head coach explaining it is his job to know when it is best to tweak, adding: ‘I like to make changes when we know the reason why.’
And that’s fair enough. Maresca has a UEFA Pro Licence and is such a strategist that he wrote a thesis on the similarities between chess and football while studying at the famous footballing school of Coverciano. Meanwhile, we writers try to think of puns that aren’t too cheesy.
But it can still be frustrating seeing the clock count down and players warm up, us and them knowing the likelihood of an appearance is dwindling by the minute.
Jean-Philippe Mateta’s goal was the seventh conceded in the last 15 minutes of matches
Marc Guiu was one of two substitutes at Crystal Palace, which came after the 80th minute
At the very start of this Premier League season, it was working. In the first four games, Chelsea’s substitutes registered a third of the goal contributions they managed in the whole of their last campaign.
Felix scored at Wolves while Neto assisted as a tactical half-time swap. Sancho was likewise brought on at the break at Bournemouth – another unforced change – and set up Nkunku to net the winner. At the time, there was a sense that if Chelsea could stay in games until the final half hour, then their substitutes could make the difference for Maresca.
But such impacts have dried up since. Bournemouth are their next visitors in the Premier League, a side unbeaten in their last eight fixtures under Andoni Iraola.
That game is more than a week away and so you hope Maresca will have ample time in training to decide on who he can trust enough to call upon, if and when the time is right.
