"You give a chance to somebody who is at 100 percent to perform" - Ex-Chelsea star slams Maresca for 'insane' decision in Manchester United loss

Former Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf slammed Enzo Maresca for his decision in the Blues' 2-1 defeat against Manchester United. Cole Palmer was subbed off by Maresca in the 21st minute having already made two substitutions earlier.

Chelsea got off to a horrendous start with keeper Robert Sanchez seeing a red card in the fifth minute of the game. Enzo Maresca responded to the sending off by taking off Estevao and Pedro Neto for Filip Jörgensen and Tosin Adarabioyo.

Eyebrows were raised when the Italian manager made another change in the 21st minute by introducing Andrey Santos for Cole Palmer. After the game, Enzo Maresca claimed that Palmer's substitution was not a tactical one and was rather precautionary as he had been managing a groin issue.

Frank Leboeuf slammed Maresca for his decision to substitute Pedro Neto rather than Palmer despite the latter not being 100% fit. He also insisted that he was surprised not to see another question the Chelsea manager's rationale behind his decision. He said, as quoted by ESPN:

"Shaka thank you you said it because I forgot. I mean when you know that you are somebody who's not at 100% and you have to change a creative player you don't change Neto. You change Palmer because you're going to save Palmer and you give a chance to somebody who is at 100% to perform."

The former French defender added:

"That's insane and I don't know why nobody asked him at the press conference why did you change Neto and you didn't change Palmer knowing it is not at 100%. That's yeah I'm sorry a stupid comment."

Robert Sanchez's red card gave Manchester United a major advantage as they capitalised on their numerical superiority. Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro scored for Ruben Amorim's side in the first half.

Casemiro received his second yellow card late in the first half giving Chelsea an encouragement. The Blues pegged one goal back in the second half with Trevoh Chalobah scoring in the 80th minute but could not find the equalizer.

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Liverpool legend blasts Maresca for bringing fisherman dad example into Raheem Sterling treatment at Chelsea

Liverpool icon Steve Nicol slammed Enzo Maresca for his comments regarding Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi's treatment. The former Scottish defender insisted that the Blues should let the two players train with the under-23 side rather than training on their own.

Nicol slammed the Chelsea boss for comparing the two players' situation to his father's hard work, who is a fisherman. He told ESPN:

“I actually find Maresca’s comments [on Sterling’s treatment] garbage. How do you bring your dad into it? Just because your dad’s a fisherman and gets up at 2 AM and works till 10, what’s that got to do with the price of bread? Shut up, what a load of nonsense. The fact that Maresca turns around and says, ‘I was in a similar situation’, that’s the very reason you don’t do that to those players. You know how bad it makes them feel."\

Nicol added:

"If you’re not having them in this squad, and you want to move them on, that’s fine. But you don’t have to treat them like five and six-year-olds. Get them training with the U23s when they normally train, and that way you’re treating them professionally. They haven’t done anything other than the fact that you don’t want them. It’s not their fault they are on good money, particularly Sterling, so don’t treat them like garbage.”

Chelsea tried to offload Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi during the summer but could not succeed in doing so. They have since been kept away from the first team and have been training on their own. PFA intervened to ensure that the two players are allowed to train at the club and they are not mentally affected.