Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca insisted that speculation around his future would not distract his squad before facing Newcastle – but that was not how it looked for 45 minutes on Saturday.
Even before kick-off, Maresca appeared to question Chelsea’s focus on buying only youth, suggesting having more experienced players is “invaluable”.
The Blues then did not get going at St James’ Park, a ground where they had lost 15 times in the Premier League era, and found themselves 2-0 down through a pair of first-half goals from striker Nick Woltemade.
So poor was the first half that Chelsea gave up an expected goals figure of 1.97 – their worst in a first 45 minutes for more than two years. They were error-prone at the back, wasteful in possession, out battled and failed to register a shot on target.
The lack of performance was staggering given Chelsea had produced an accomplished display when beating Everton at home last weekend. That form was more in evidence after the break as they roared back through an outstanding 25-yard free-kick from Reece James and a brilliant individual goal from Joao Pedro.
Despite the improvement by Chelsea they were still reliant on a key call going their way as Newcastle controversially saw penalty shouts waved away moments before Pedro equalised when Trevoh Chalobah clattered into Anthony Gordon in the box.
It felt at times that Maresca’s post-match comments from last week – in which he said “many people” had caused his “worst 48 hours” since joining the club – were continuing to impact the players.
Since those comments, the Italian had been linked with Manchester City – speculation he labelled “100 per cent” unfounded – and had his relationship with the hi
Read More