Enzo Maresca slams Chelsea flops and admits ‘I feel sorry for the fans’

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca tore into his flops after their were comfortably beaten by Brighton in an embarrassing display that saw them fail to register a single shot on target

Enzo Maresca ripped into his Chelsea flops after they lost to Brighton for the second time in a week.

Kaoru Mitoma did his best impression of Dennis Bergkamp with a spectacular goal of the season contender. And Yankuba Minteh then bagged a brace as Maresca’s problems mounted with Noni Madueke joining a growing injury list.

Maresca’s fourth-placed side could have opened up a five-point lead over Manchester City in fifth with a win. But his strikerless system backfired as they failed to even manage a shot on target, and they’ve now taken just nine points from their last nine league games.

The Chelsea boss said: “I feel sorry for the fans. It is not the right performance that we can offer, especially at this moment in the season. We need to stick together. I feel pressure always. Tonight the performance was the worst since I arrived – but we are still in fourth and in the race to finish in Europe.”

The Italian butchered his side post-match and told the BBC : “Probably since I arrived that is the worst performance, especially in the moment we are in. We are fourth in the league and winning tonight you can go one point from third and make the gap to the rest bigger and the performance is not one you want to offer so we are very upset and sorry for the fans that were here.

“For half an hour I think we were in control but after this moment [Kaoru Mitoma’s goal] we looked like we could concede chances easily and we struggled to create chances. The reason why is because of the injuries in this moment especially with the strikers – important players are out but we need to find a solution.

“It is difficult when you don’t have a proper number nine. So you always have to find a different solution. In the last third we struggled doing things that until a week or two ago we were doing well.

“This is the worst moment since I arrived but we are still there and we need to finish in the best way.”

Gary Neville pointed fingers at Chelsea’s attack, notably Cole Palmer and Christophe Nkunku, declaring the pair “useless”.

“Nkunku and Palmer are very good players but they were very poor tonight,” he said on Sky Sports. “These two are very talented players. I thought they were useless as a pair tonight.

“This is where their team needs them and they really need to turn up.”

Asked about Mitoma’s wondergoal, team-mate Danny Welbeck said: “When I saw his first touch…I’ve seen him do it countless times in training. It was impeccable. It was a thing of beauty. It was amazing. Great goal.”

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler said: “He is able to do special things like this.”

Brighton even taunted Chelsea afterwards by tweeting: “Fabian Hurzeler. Top manager.’

Maresca had declined an opportunity to say just that in a bizarre pre-match presser, preferring instead “not to say anything about their manager.”

But Hurzeler said: “I respect him. He’s a great manager. It’s always good to compete with the best managers. I always respect everyone.”

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