Having a big squad certainly has its advantages. When you’re playing in multiple competitions, and need to keep legs fresh, you need to have good squad depth. Chelsea FC have that, and manager Enzo Maresca is utilizing that. Between last week’s thrashing of Ajax, in the Champions League, and the weekend loss to surprising Sunderland in the league, it was pretty much two different starting XIs.
Tomorrow’s starting lineup should be very different as well, and that is obvious given the status updates that he provided earlier.
League Cup 4th Round FYIs
Chelsea FC at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Kickoff: Wed. Oct. 29th, 7:45pm, Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK
Chelsea Preview Material: Team News Predicted Starting XI
“The reason why we need to rotate, we need to protect players, is because if we go with the same 11, we’re going to struggle during the season,” Maresca said at his press conference earlier today. “So we need to rotate, and probably we’re going to make some changes. I don’t know how many, but we’re going to make some changes.
So what is that lineup going to look like? Well, here is our best guess at this link.
Maresca did not tip his hand. He said he’ll make changes, but he didn’t say who, or how many.
“I don’t know yet,” he continued.
“For sure, we’re going to make some changes. I don’t know now if nine, 10, like we did between Forest and Ajax. But for sure, we’re going to make changes again because we need to do that.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter