Chelsea's dismal discipline under Maresca laid bare as Cucurella sends warning

MARC CUCURELLA has warned Chelsea must end their rash of red cards and gaffes.

Fullback Cucurella , 27, was the player of the match in the 1-0 Champions League win over Benfica that spoiled former boss Jose Mourinho ’s return to Stamford Bridge.

2 Joao Pedro was the latest Chelsea star to be sent off Credit: Getty

2 It continues a worrying trend of Chelsea having the worst red card discipline since the start of the 2022-23 season Credit: Getty

But a late sending off for team-mate Joao Pedro put a dampener on the celebrations of a much-needed victory.

Striker Pedro, 24, became the THIRD Chelsea player to be sent off in their last four matches, joining Robert Sanchez and Trevoh Chalobah in the naughty corner at Cobham.

Statistics compiled by SunSport show the Blues have the worst record for red cards among top Premier League clubs since the start of the 2022-23 season.

And under Maresca, they are accumulating sendings-off - and therefore suspensions - at a higher rate than in the reigns of his recent predecessors.

Cucurella knows they cannot afford to keep making silly mistakes and playing a man down - especially when they host reigning Premier League champions Liverpool at the weekend.

Chelsea beat the Reds 3-1 at Stamford Bridge a week after Arne Slot’s side sealed the title.

But Cucurella said: "Last season Liverpool won the league, and they deserved it. They’ve started really strongly, but whenever we play Liverpool, we fight.

“The last time we played them, we won, so we are ready.

"We are working hard, but it’s true, we need to make less mistakes, and not concede these easy goals.

“We need to improve on the red cards. It's difficult, and it's not an excuse, but playing with 10 men is tough.

“We need to learn that with 10 men we can suffer.

“In the last game against Brighton, we played the last 40 minutes with 10 men, and then we lost the game."

Maresca and Pedro Neto both pointed out before the Benfica game that Chelsea had lost only five games in the previous six months - and in four of them, they had had a player sent off.

The Blues avoided that fate on Tuesday night, with Pedro’s second yellow card coming too late for Benfica to mount a comeback.

But it was a silly and unnecessary addition to the club’s disciplinary problems under Maresca.

CHELSEA RED CARDS BY MANAGER - stats by Jon Phipps

Total record: P15 W6 D0 L9

Thomas Tuchel

Graham Potter

Frank Lampard

Mauricio Pochettino

Enzo Maresca

Note: Caretaker boss Bruno Saltor took charge of one game in 2023, with no Chelsea red cards

The former Leicester boss’ reign has now seen seven red cards in 73 games - one every 10.4 games.

That is even worse than Chelsea’s overall rate of one every 11.6 games since the current owners took charge in 2022 - and a deterioration from the one sending off per 12.6 games before he arrived.

Manchester United are third in the hall of shame - just behind Tottenham - for the Premier League’s biggest eight clubs, with one red card per 15.1 games.

Maresca could argue the figures are partly the result of Chelsea’s ongoing policy of buying young, less-experienced players who are more prone to mistakes.

Cucurella is a senior figure and one of the most consistent performers after recovering from his difficult start at Stamford Bridge.

The Spaniard said: “I’ve tried to help the young lads since I joined.

“I've suffered tough moments, and now I'm very good. It's part of football .

“We need to be together in the tough moments and work harder, because that’s how the good things come.”

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