Garnacho saves Maresca lucky, ‘woeful’ Chelsea duo from disaster vs Cardiff as hierarchy clear

Alejandro Garnacho outshone two “woeful” Chelsea teammates with a brace, with fortunate head coach Enzo Maresca let off the hook against Cardiff City…

A repeated criticism of Chelsea boss Maresca is that he tinkers with his team too much, and this remains a valid assessment of the under-fire head coach after his side’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against League One side Cardiff City.

Speaking on Monday, Maresca confirmed that he would be “making some changes” from the team that beat Everton at the weekend, but he outdid himself by making eleven (yes, ELEVEN) alterations for Tuesday night’s game.

Garnacho, Reece James, Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro were among the notable names on the Chelsea bench. Rested Cole Palmer, meanwhile, was not included in the squad at all.

Shortly before kick-off in Cardiff, Maresca explained his selection decision: “First of all, it’s important to win the game, so prepare the right team, a balanced team that can attack and defend.

“Then at the same time, we need to recover some players because we go again in two days. We try to find the right balance, it’s not easy but hopefully it’s the right thing to do.”

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The last seven words of this answer would not have filled Chelsea’s supporters with optimism before the cup tie, and the dismal displays of their stand-inds confirmed their fears.

Maresca took a calculated risk to use this game to dip into his deep squad, which was certainly a bold call considering he’s clearly under pressure from the board. But most of Chelsea’s starters against Cardiff did not take this opportunity as they let their head coach down.

It was evident from the Blues’ third-gear performance that they took a comfortable win and a place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals for granted, though Cardiff City had different ideas.

Cardiff are in League One, but they have won five league matches in a row to move clear at the top of the table, and Pep Guardiola’s disciple, Brian Barry-Murphy, has got them playing the way of the old Manchester City.

The Welsh side headed into this game with the most average possession of any team in the Football League, with the third-tier team the better side against the giants in the opening half.

Cardiff were a tad fortunate not to go into the break in front as Chelsea were incredibly sloppy in defence and wasteful in attack, with Sky Sports reporter Lewis Jones revealing a damning assessment of two players.

He said at half-time: “Facundo Buonanotte and Jamie Gittens must be in danger of getting hooked at the break. Both have found lots of pockets of space but have been utterly wasteful with the ball. Between them they have contested 14 duels and lost them all.

“They have both lost possession 10 times each too – the joint-most of any Chelsea players. Woeful.”

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Neither player was taken off at the break, with Tyrique George and Marc Guiu withdrawn for Joao Pedro and Alejandro Garnacho instead.

Thankfully for Chelsea, these changes gave the visitors an increased impetus as they improved in the second half and looked more threatening.

Chelsea broke the deadlock around the hour mark. 19-year-old Dylan Lawlor, who was otherwise very accomplished, carelessly gifted the ball to Buonanotte, who had the simplest of tasks of assisting Garnacho for a finish from close range.

By this stage, Chelsea really should have put Cardiff to the sword, and they had the necessary openings, which were mostly gifted to them by defensive lapses, to take the game away from the underdogs, who later punished their opponents for their lack of a clinical edge.

Just as Cardiff looked to be set for a hard-fought 1-0 loss against a supposedly far superior side, the hosts grabbed a stunning equaliser with 15 minutes to go.

This was the least Chelsea and Cardiff deserved, with Perry Ng’s pinpoint cross met by a perfectly-timed run by David Turnbull, who emphatically powered a header home past Filip Jorgensen. By the way, the goalkeeper looked shaky all evening and looks far away from being a consistent starter for the Blues.

Still, Chelsea’s extra quality in the final third ensured they did enough to avoid a nervy penalty shootout, with substitute Neto drilling the ball home via a deflection before Garnacho added another in stoppage time.

So, a lucky escape for Chelsea against a particularly spirited Cardiff City side, who can hold their heads high as they certainly deserved penalties.

The Blues, meanwhile, produce another worrying performance in their rollercoaster season, with Maresca’s blushes spared by his star players from the bench after being exposed by a horde of “woeful” to average squad players who will no doubt be sold in the next year or two.