Chelsea’s 4-3 win over Wolves within the Carabao Cup was something however routine. Whereas the end result booked their spot within the quarterfinals, supervisor Enzo Maresca was left livid with Liam Delap, whose reckless dismissal practically derailed the workforce’s progress at Molineux.
Making his first look since August after recovering from a hamstring damage, Delap’s evening turned disastrous simply 26 minutes after approaching. The younger striker picked up two yellow playing cards within the area of seven minutes — first for dragging down Yerson Mosquera, after which for a careless aerial problem on Emmanuel Agbadou.
What makes issues worse for Chelsea is that it was their sixth purple card in solely 9 video games this season, including to what has change into a worrying disciplinary pattern. Maresca, visibly annoyed after the sport, made no try to melt his verdict.
“After the yellow card, I informed him 4 or 5 instances to maintain calm,” stated Maresca. “However Liam is a participant that, when he is on the pitch, most likely performs just a little bit for himself and struggles to hearken to what’s round him.”
The Italian coach labeled the sending-off “embarrassing” and insisted it was completely avoidable.
“I can perceive purple playing cards like those towards Brighton or Manchester United — these are troublesome moments. However conditions like immediately or towards Nottingham Forest are completely different. Two yellow playing cards in a couple of minutes — it is not good. It is embarrassing.”
Earlier than Delap’s dismissal, Chelsea had seemed in full management. Targets from Andrey Santos, Tyrique George, and Estvo gave them a snug 3–0 lead at half-time. However Wolves got here roaring again after the break by way of Tolu Arokodare and David Moller Wolfe, establishing a tense end.
Jamie Gittens’ late strike appeared to place the sport to mattress, just for Wolfe to attain once more moments later — making the ultimate minutes much more nerve-racking than they wanted to be.
Regardless of the chaos, Chelsea held on to win and advance to the subsequent spherical. However for Maresca, the message was clear: self-discipline should enhance if the Blues are to maintain their momentum alive this season.
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