ENZO MARESCA defended naming Enzo Fernandez as Chelsea captain – but might struggle to explain the midfielder’s troubling match stats.
Fernandez made little attacking impact as the Blues opened their Premier League season with a 2-0 home loss to champs Manchester City.
And the Argentinian’s facts and figures did equally little to justify his selection – in many senses of the word.
Maresca has backed the World Cup winner after he filmed himself singing a racist chant aimed at French players following Copa America glory.
But the £107million buy could need to improve on this day-one performance to even stay in the Chelsea team, let alone continue as stand-in skipper when Reece James is absent.
Fernandez’s Stamford Bridge stats on Sunday highlighted his failings.
READ MORE TOP STORIES
True, he did complete 45 passes, with seven others not completed.
But our map of every ball he delivered shows the vast majority were pretty much sent sideways rather than forward.
Most were knocked out wide from the centre of the pitch.
Only one into the box arrived accurately, although a small handful were played just outside.
Most read in Football
FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS
And the mere two occasions on which Fernandez dispatched passes into the six-yard box, they were both off-target.
The duo alongside him in midfield, Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo, are more anchormen than springboards for creating chances.
That means Maresca must expect more from Fernandez – probably much more.
Nicolas Jackson was Chelsea’s only out-and-out frontman against Pep Guardiola’s stylists.
Cole Palmer, by far last season’s main man for goals and assists, played just behind.
And the finally-fit – but fitful – Christopher Nkunku was quiet out wide, in fact looking more at ease when he featured inside.
Fernandez had one of Chelsea’s only three efforts on target as they amassed just 10 goal attempts in all.
But he made no dribbles, won just two tackles and only once put in an accurate cross.
In contrast, City netted from two of their 11 on-target efforts – from Erling Haaland lethally and Blues’ old boy Mateo Kovacic spectacularly.
However, Maresca insisted Fernandez is a positive influence.
The new Stamford Bridge boss said: “He’s one of the captains. He’s not the only captain. But he is the captain today.
“I can see the team-mates, they like him as a player and as a man.”
And Maresca claims the 23-year-old knows his behaviour was wrong when sparking a racism row just weeks ago.
The ex-Leicester chief said: “All of us sometimes do some mistakes. The important thing is to recognise and it’s finished.”
“I don’t know about you but I made mistakes in the past and I recognised and I think if, as a human being, you make a mistake and recognise you are not going to be punished for life.”
“‘Enzo did a mistake, he recognised and there is nothing to add.”
Chelsea players Wesley Fofana and David Datro-Fofana were among those who spoke out following unacceptable chanting from Argentina stars.
Fernandez was at the centre of the outrage as he shared a video of the scenes, with racist and transphobic words belted out.
He “apologised sincerely” on Instagram and admitted “the song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse”.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
He also made a donation to an anti-discrimination charity.
That all led to Chelsea considering the matter closed without taking action against him.
Chelsea ratings vs Man City
CHELSEA began life under new boss Enzo Maresca with a 2-0 home defeat to champions Manchester City.
Here’s how SunSport’s Lloyd Canfield rated the Chelsea lot as the season didn’t begin how they wanted.
Robert Sanchez – 4/10
Distribution-wise, it’s not good enough; that said, he made an absolutely fantastic save to deny a deflected effort from Jeremy Doku in the first half.
Similarly in the second half, made a routine save to deny Erling Haaland before getting a hand to Mateo Kovacic’s shot, but failed to stop it rattling the back of the net.
Malo Gusto – 5
It’s more of the impressive attitude we saw last season from the flying Frenchman, but today, he couldn’t stamp his mark on the game at all going forward.
We certainly see more of his best qualities in the game where Chelsea have more of the ball, he should grow into the season nicely over the next few games.
Wesley Fofana – 5
He didn’t look out of his depth in his first Premier League game for Chelsea for over a year, and despite conceding, it was a decent performance to build on in the coming games.
Did well physically against Haaland in fairness, and made it through the 90 minutes unscathed which will please Chelsea fans in some capacity.
Levi Colwill – 5
Tough day at the office against physicality personified in Erling Haaland.
Did play the ball well out from the back for Chelsea with a few good blocks and tackles. But much the same as with Wesley Fofana, there is room for growth into the season with easier fixtures upcoming, particularly where Chelsea will dominate on the ball.
Marc Cucurella – 6
Forced Jeremy Doku into a change of wing in the first half after winning a tough battle against the Belgian winger, and stepped into challenges well for the most part.
Was solid again in the second half before going off with an injury.
Romeo Lavia – 6
He looked like a calming presence in the Chelsea midfield when he did get the ball and he broke up play pretty well for a player who has been out through injury for so long.
Continued his good pre-season form and is deserving of a run in the side.
Moises Caicedo – 5
A similar performance really to the aforementioned Lavia, but was one of Chelsea’s better progressors of the ball when they did get forwards and showed some nice touches in the middle of the park.
Fans will be left wondering whether he, Lavia and Enzo Fernandez fit into the same midfield.
Enzo Fernandez – 5
A mixed performance from the Argentine midfielder who showed promise in spells, but it really wasn’t the level you would expect of a player with his price tag.
This could have been a huge game for the Chelsea captain for the day, but he failed to really stamp his mark on it in comparison to the player whom he replaced, Mateo Kovacic.
Christopher Nkunku – 4
Enzo Maresca seemed to want him playing as a touchline winger, but the forward looks far more comfortable in the middle of the pitch.
He was the first player to be hooked in the second half and was replaced by Pedro Neto, who looked more at home wide on the left-hand side.
Cole Palmer – 5
It was far from the electric performance which saw him scoop heaps of praise last season.
He still did show glimpses going forward, but he just failed to impact the game in the ways he did last time around.
Nicolas Jackson – 4
New season, same old Nicolas Jackson.
A great run in the first half was let down by a pea-roller of a shot into a Man City defender, before he hit the back of the net only to see the official’s flag raised on the far side.
I’m sorry Nic Jackson, but it’s a four for you this time round…
SUBS:
Pedro Neto (Nkunku, 58) – 5
Not the kind of debut that got fans out of their seats, but with The Blues failing to really get him on the ball there was little to take note of.
Marc Guiu (Jackson, 66) – 5
Less impactful than Nicolas Jackson, but in considerably less time.
For a player who can dominate physically, he looked a little intimidated by the Manchester City defence and wasn’t really presented with any chances.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Lavia, 67) – 5
Many Chelsea fans were disappointed to see Romeo Lavia come off after a good performance, and Dewsbury-Hall failed to add any of the attacking prowess we saw in the Championship last season.
Renato Veiga (Cucurella, 80) – 5
He didn’t have enough time to impact the game after replacing Marc Cucurella, who had more time to establish himself as one of Chelsea’s better performers.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
