Grow up, says irate Maresca to Liam Delap after red card in Chelsea’s chaotic 4-3 win against Wolves last night.
Maresca tells Delap to grow up after his ‘stupid red card’ in wild win over Wolves.
Enzo Maresca urged his youthful team to “grow up” and chastised Liam Delap for his “very stupid red card.” With a 3-0 lead at the break, Chelsea was able to convert this into a wild match that secured them a quarterfinal Carabao Cup match at Cardiff, but it lost them their striker’s services for Saturday’s match against Tottenham.
Delap, who returned as a substitute after missing two months due to a hamstring injury, was ejected for receiving two identical yellow cards in seven late minutes, and the Chelsea boss had little pity for him.
Wolves ended up in credit despite having a bad start to the season. Supporters who had jeered the Premier League’s bottom team during Sunday’s loss to Burnley cheered them on as they fought valiantly to reclaim some pride.
After Tolu Arokodare had restored the score to 3-1, two goals from David Møller Wolfe gave their supporters hope, but outstanding strikes from Andrey Santos, Tyrique George, Estêvão, and Jamie Gittens consistently suggested Chelsea had too much class.
As Wolves turned this into a brawl, Delap, who had been substituted in the 60th minute, was booked for knocking Yerson Mosquera off the ball and then leaping into Emmanuel Agbadou. One week from now, on Saturday, the clubs will reunite in the league at Stamford Bridge. That ought to be enjoyable.
Chelsea have had six red cards in their past nine games. “Yes, it’s embarrassing when it’s a red card like today, because it’s two yellow cards in seven minutes, he said. “But I think we can avoid that. So it’s not good.
“After the yellow card, I told him four or five times to keep calm. But Liam is a player that when he’s inside the pitch, he’ll be playing the game for himself and he struggles to realise and to listen around him.”
Admitting that his side panicked after Wolves made it 3-1, Maresca added: “It’s part of the journey of this team, this squad, that needs to grow up, to make experience to get better.”