Chelsea Dressing Room Erupts: Maresca Tears Into Midfield Trio After Narrow Cup Win
The Carabao Cup should have been a footnote. Instead, Chelsea’s 2-1 escape at Lincoln City on September 23, 2025, has turned into a flashpoint inside Enzo Maresca’s squad.
According to multiple reports, the Italian boss lost his composure post-match, singling out Enzo Fernández, Andrey Santos, and Facundo Buonanotte as “too easy to break down” after a first half where League One Lincoln bullied the Blues with long balls and set-piece chaos.
- Fernández, the £107m World Cup winner, drew the sharpest rebuke for sloppy passing and poor tracking, one lapse directly gifting Lincoln’s opener.
- Santos, making only his third Chelsea start, was branded “too lightweight” after struggling to shield the backline.
- Buonanotte heard frustration over his lack of cutting edge, completing neat passes but creating nothing of note in the final third.
Maresca’s fury reportedly boiled over into shouts of: “I don’t even understand what those three came here to play tonight!” Eyewitnesses said the atmosphere was “tense but contained,” with the manager later softening the blow in one-on-ones. Fernández skipped media duty, while Santos and Buonanotte tried to spin the criticism as a lesson learned.
Ironically, it was the half-time triple change—Dewsbury-Hall, Madueke, and Essugo—that flipped the script, sparking a six-minute turnaround that saved Chelsea’s blushes. But the damage to trust may linger.
Already under strain after defeats to Bayern Munich and Manchester United, Maresca is balancing a crippling injury list with mounting fan scrutiny. Some supporters praised the tough love, while others warned the outburst risks alienating loanees and youngsters. Pundits are split too: Gary Neville likened it to “a Mourinho-style wake-up call,” while Jamie Carragher suggested Maresca should share the blame for squad rotation.
With Brighton up next in the league and a fourth-round cup draw looming, the question hangs: will Maresca’s fire forge resilience—or fracture belief?
For Fernández, Santos, and Buonanotte, one message rang clear: excuses won’t cut it at Chelsea.
