Enzo Maresca’s impressive rolodex of excuses for defeats added a new entry last night when he claimed that his Chelsea team “tried something completely different”, and that that had played a role in their defeat.

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Maresca blames defeat on tactical experiments

Enzo Maresca taking preseason training for Chelsea. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

“In the last two days, we tried something completely different. We played in a different structure today to prepare for next season and have more options,” the Chelsea coach explained.

“The plan was quite good for an hour, but then we conceded the goal, and the second one, and then we had the red card. In the end, with us down to ten men, they deserved to win the game.”

Now we could accept it if he had said they tried something slightly different, but “completely different” is a huge exaggeration. Reece James in midfield? We’ve seen that loads of times. Cole Palmer on the right? We’ve seen that plenty too, albeit mainly under Mauricio Pochettino. Malo Gusto as a proper full back without inverting? Shouldn’t be a disaster given that’s his natural position and we’ve seen him there a lot.

Chelsea outplayed all game; Maresca should have changed things

All in all, none of those tweaks should be nearly enough to excuse being outplayed for 90 minutes by a side on a fraction of the budget that we are. His assertion that we were “quite good” for an hour isn’t really true either. We were outplayed all game, scored a pretty lucky goal against the run of play, and then continued to be dominated until Flamengo got the two goals they deserved.

Maresca’s refusal to change things earlier, when they clearly weren’t working, was immensely frustrating too. As many have pointed out, he’s got his best right back in midfield, his worst right back at right back and tons of good midfielders itching for a minute on the bench.

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