"Thankfully it helped United" - Wayne Rooney questions Enzo Maresca's 'strange' decision in Chelsea's loss to Manchester United

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has questioned Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca's decision to substitute Pedro Neto for Tosin Adarabioyo in the Premier League loss to the Red Devils on Saturday, September 20. He believes that the move helped the Red Devils control the game, as the Blues have no one to support Joao Pedro in attack.

Speaking on BBC's Match of the Day, Rooney said that Chelsea missed the creativity on the pitch with Neto out and Cole Palmer getting substituted because of injury minutes later. He added that the Blues showed no urgency in the second half, after Casemiro also got sent off at the end of the first half to make it 10 against 10. He said (via METRO):

"They had all the imagination on the pitch and I felt that is what was missing for Chelsea. They had a lot of possession going side to side second half but they missed that creativity which Neto or Cole Palmer could bring them. I think the change was strange but thankfully it helped United. It was a strange game, I think when it went to 10 men apiece, I just felt there was no urgency from Chelsea to try and get back in the game."

"Obviously, they get one goal back from a cross, there were no crosses in the box, the two crosses in the box, they get one goal, and then they have another good chance. It was just slow, side to side, yeah the weather was poor but I think if you're a Chelsea fan you want to see them with a bit more urgency to try to get something from the game."

Eenzso Maresca's side were down to 10 men inside the first 5 minutes as goalkeeper Robert Sanchez got sent off. Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro scored to make it 2-0 before Trevoh Chalobah pulled one back late in the second half to make it 2-1.

Chelsea manager explains substitution against Manchester United

Enzo Maresca spoke to the media after the 2-1 loss to Manchester United and revealed that he made the change to match Ruben Amorim's tactics. He believed that Chelsea needed to play with five defenders to manage the game after going down to 10 men and said (via Football London):

"The reason why we changed Pedro [Neto] and Estevao [Willian] was because they attack with the five players always, and we defend with the four, and we can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against them, I think we need to defend on the width, so we decided to go with the back five, this is the reason why."

The Blues are now sixth in the Premier League table, seven points behind leaders Liverpool. They face Lincoln City next in the Carabao Cup, and then host Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, September 27.