Chelsea fans all agree Enzo Maresca ‘experiment’ against Qarabag failed

Add as preferred source on Google

It was a disappointing night in the Champions League for Chelsea, who had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Qarabag despite going into the game as heavy favourites.

Qarabag may be the Azerbaijan champions, but they should be no match for Chelsea, regardless of team selection.

Still, Enzo Maresca decided to play a slightly weakened side on the road on Wednesday night, and paid the price as the Blues dropped points in their Champions League campaign.

Coming off the back of an important win against rivals Tottenham, many fans were hoping for more of the same from their team tonight, but were left baffled by one Maresca decision that proved to be Chelsea’s downfall.

• READ MORE: Chelsea fans agree with Jamie Carragher about Moises Caicedo vs Tottenham

Chelsea’s centre-back pairing didn’t work

Any Chelsea supporter watching the game will know full well what we are talking about here: the pairing of Tosin Adarabiyo and Jorrel Hato simply did not work for the Blues.

The former has struggled of late anyway, with a number of errors costing his team. Meanwhile, Hato has emerged as the main scapegoat from the result against Qarabag, after a nightmare of a first half.

One fan took to Twitter/X to say this on Hato: “Caused the first goal. Caused the penalty for the second goal. Disaster man.”

Another said, “Jorrel Hato has disappointed himself tonight,” while a third added, “That centre-back pairing will ruin us.”

However, a lot of fans tried not to get at the players and instead blamed Maresca for the decision to put them together.

One fan wrote: “The problem is the coach that does not understand that the defence needs some balance. You can’t put shaky Tosin with shaky Hato. There should be some balance. I think he underestimated Qarabag.”

Another posted: “Young guys on defence putting in some shockers this season. This experiment with young defenders needs to chill.”

One very pragmatic fan even replied: “It’s one of those things, just a youngster’s mistake.”

Perhaps it’s no wonder that Chelsea are plotting a move for Dayot Upamecano in 2026. After seeing this showing from Tosin and Hato, fans will be praying that’s the plan.

• READ MORE: Chelsea owner Todd Boehly in world-record £7.5bn US takeover deal

No excuses for Chelsea amid Champions League disappointment

Whatever the reason for the poor performance tonight, Chelsea cannot have any excuse for coming away from Azerbaijan with anything less than three points, really.

League champions or not, Qarabag’s squad is worth roughly £22m (according to Transfermarkt). As we know, Chelsea’s mega-spending is through the roof, and they dwarf the Azerbaijan side when it comes to squad value, coming in at a whopping £1 billion.

Let’s not forget, this is a team that Spurs beat 3-0 in the Europa League last season. No matter what players Chelsea put on the pitch, they should have had more than enough to get a win.

What a result for Qarabag, though. To hold the Club World Cup champions in their first season in the Champions League is incredible, and this will be a night to remember for their fans, while Chelsea supporters will want to forget about it very quickly indeed.