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A Red Card Too Many: Maresca FINALLY Snaps

On Wednesday night, Chelsea vaulted themselves into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, emerging victorious in a nervy 7-goal thriller with the Premier League’s bottom side, Wolves.

Usually, the seven goals, the man-of-the-match performance from Jamie Gittens, and the subsequent comeback that could have been from Wolves would capture the headlines, but no. Because it’s Chelsea, the focus surrounded yet another red card, a remarkable sixth in their last nine games.

Liam Delap made his long-awaited return from a severe hamstring injury; by the way the game was going, it looked likely he would finally break his duck in Blue. However, the Englishman graced the pitch for all of just 25 minutes before he was given his marching orders, to the great frustration of Enzo Maresca on the sidelines.

Seeing Red On Return

Chelsea fans have been crying out for Delap’s return since his injury in August - their lack of an out-and-out striker has seen their fortunes in front of goal drop off significantly, and while they have been winning games for the most part, the presence of a proper goalscorer would boost confidence throughout the team.

So when the son of long-throw legend Rory Delap took to the pitch on the hour mark, the away fans gave him quite the reception - finally there was a proven goalscorer on the pitch!

However, perhaps overeager to make an impression on his return, Delap started to throw his weight around, receiving a yellow card in the 79th minute for an off-the-ball infraction and a push on Yerson Mosquera.

Just six minutes later, his youthful naivety was on display for the world to see, as when contesting for a ball with Emmanuel Agbadou, Delap took his eyes off the ball, locked onto his man, and elbowed him in the cheek for a stonewall yellow card and subsequent red.

It was stupid, it was immature, and it once again highlighted the major discipline problem Chelsea have in their ranks - of course it is a by product of assembling a young, inexperienced squad, but to pick up six red cards in nine games is completely unheard of, and it threatens to derail any progress they hope to make this season.

Having previously been very forgiving of his side's misadventures, Maresca finally vented his long pent-up frustration in a post-match interview yesterday.

“Absolutely (deserved), it was a stupid foul; we can avoid that. I completely understand when there are red cards like Brighton (Chalobah) and Man United (Sanchez), but the red card against Nottingham Forest and today, both we can avoid, and we have to avoid.”

“It is embarrassing when it’s a red card like today, because it is two yellow cards in five minutes, seven minutes, both of which we can avoid.”

And Maresca didn’t end his long-needed monologue there, as he also included some personal barbs regarding Delap himself. The striker has long been known as a physical player, willing to leave a mark on the opposition and run himself and the opposing backline ragged. But aged just 22, he still has a lot to learn, and Maresca let him know that in no uncertain terms.

“After the yellow card I told him four or five times to keep calm. But Liam is a player that when he is inside the pitch, he’ll probably be playing the game for himself, and struggles to realise and listen (to those) around him.”

One thing is for certain - the Blues cannot afford to keep suffering from cheap, unnecessary suspensions. In the majority of their games so far they have escaped unscathed, but this is the sort of luck that simply isn’t sustainable in the English top flight and Europe.

If Chelsea continue to lose key players, their progress will eventually falter, and after his forgiving outlook on prior sending-offs, Maresca really must start to crack down on his side's discipline problem. Fine them, drop them, punish them on the training ground, whatever works - but one thing that he now cannot do is let them go unpunished.