Enzo Maresca has admitted he regrets making the mistake of not selecting Josh Acheampong to start against Leeds.
Maresca named Benoit Badiashile and Tosin Adarabioyo in central defence in Wednesday’s league game at Elland Road, but an individual error from Tosin allowed Leeds to score their third goal in a surprise 3-1 win that saw Chelsea drop down to fourth in the league table.
Wesley Fofana is having his minutes managed by the club so was not in the squad for the game.
Acheampong, the 19-year-old Chelsea academy graduate, has only played eight minutes since lasting the full 90 minutes of the 4-3 Carabao Cup win at Wolves at the end of October, yet Maresca admitted not starting him at Leeds was an error of judgement.
“One of the regrets I have after the game is that I didn't play with Josh,” a transparent Maresca conceded.
“The reason why we played with Trev [Trevoh Chalobah], Tosin and Benoit is because, analysing them, we saw that most of the time they [Leeds] were playing long balls for [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin, for [Lukas] Nmecha.
“And so we prefer physicality to win aerial duels. But even with that, we lost most of them.”
Maresca also appeared to criticise Tosin, who at 28 is the club’s oldest player. The Chelsea head coach explained experience is not what the Blues were lacking at Elland Road, as demonstrated by Tosin's mistake and difficult performance.
“In that moment, the ones that have more experience were out,” Maresca said. “Who is the oldest one for us on the pitch? Who was? Tosin. Did he play well? So, it's not about experience.
“It's about [the fact] that 11 players were not good enough. I know that we are always looking for experience, but it was a bad game for all of us.”
