Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has reasserted his views that his team does not have a disciplinary problem despite five yellow cards being dished out to Chelsea players by referee Stuart Atwell in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa. “Again, we need to analyse every yellow card. But I didn’t have the feeling [against Villa] that there was a disciplinary problem,” said Maresca, defending his team. Maresca himself was served his second touchline ban of the season during the Aston Villa game, had to watch from the back of the press box following an accumulation of too many yellow cards of his own. But he still continues to insist that Chelsea does not have an issue with ill discipline. Interesting to note that Chelsea have twice been handed FA fines this season for accumulating too many bookings within a single game. A £25,000 fine came after The Blues’ defeat to Manchester United in September, and a £50,000 fine followed their 2-2 draw at Newcastle before Christmas. Chelsea were one yellow away from a third fine, worth £75,000, against Villa. In addition to this, Chelsea have also received several red cards this season, with Maresca, Joao Pedro, Trevoh Chalobah, Robert Sanchez, Moises Caicedo, Liam Delap and Malo Gusto all given their marching orders in the first half of the campaign. Determined to end the year well Maresca also said that Chelsea are determined to end the year well after dropping points in their last two Premier League matches ahead of the home game against Bournemouth on Tuesday. Fifth-placed Chelsea are 13 points behind leaders Arsenal. “It’s become very important to finish the year in the best way. For sure it will be another tough game, because they are all the same. But we need to win games as soon as possible,” said the coach. The manager, who led Chelsea to victory in the Club World Cup this year, said he was happy with his team’s performance in the first half, when they dominated possession and did not allow Villa a shot on target.Story continues below this ad “We need to be confident and we need to think that hopefully we can go close again to the ones ahead of us. I don’t think it’s random when something continuously happens. We need to understand why no matter if we’re winning, drawing or losing, (if) we concede a goal, we lose the control a little bit. So we need to understand the reason why,” he added. (With Reuters inputs)
Amid fines and bans, Chelsea boss Maresca defends his players’ discipline after Villa defeat sparks fresh scrutiny
