Enzo Maresca was very frustrated with Liam Delap after his last appearance for Chelsea, for obvious reasons.
Subbed on in the second half after two months out injured, the striker picked up 2 yellow cards in 7 minutes to make an ignominious and rapid exit from the game.
Maresca spins positive on Delap after mistake
But in his press conference today the manager was full of praise for his striker and talked up his potential impact in the rest of this season:
“Liam is back. He is an important player for us. He is an option for tomorrow. I don’t have any doubt at the end of the season that we will be very happy with Liam in terms of goals and the way he works off the ball. No doubt he is going to help us.”
While Maresca didn’t confirm anything about Delap’s status for tomorrow’s game against Qarabag, it’s pretty easy to conclude that he will get significant minutes. We’d expect him to start and play for an hour or so, leaving him fresh enough to come on as a sub at the weekend to continue his return to match sharpness.
If he hadn’t picked up that red, he would probably be ready to start against Wolves, but just like Maresca, we’re going to move past that silly mistake now and look to the future for Liam and this team.
In other news…
Also in this press conference, Maresca revealed that Reece James is now fit enough to play 3 games in a week – although that doesn’t mean we’re expecting to see it anytime soon.
Possibly featuring in the game tomorrow will be young midfielder Reggie Walsh. He spoke to the club’s website about his game and which player he looks up to most.
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