Enzo Maresca’s magnificent B team experiment looked like it came to the end of the line last night in the North East.
After a start to the season which had seen an entirely different XI used in cup and league, Maresca’s B team met their match in the form of a strong Newcastle side. Looking to avenge Sunday’s defeat (admittedly against an entirely different Chelsea team) the Magpies came out strong in front of their own fans and scored two in a strong first period which forced Maresca to go to his bench and bring on the big guns.
There will still be plenty of scope for fully changed teams in the FA Cup’s early rounds, plus the Conference League, where there will be some dead rubbers. But from now on the coach will have to think a lot more about whether the team he’s putting out there makes sense. Today there was no coherence at all, and while that might get you past Barrow, against Premier League opposition it was quickly shown up.
First team stars still not in the red zone – but policy
We’re not too worried about an excess of minutes for some of these first team players just yet – even stars like Cole Palmer have been able to keep their numbers down thanks to the B team concept. But from now on things are getting intense. There’s two games a week, then an international break, then two games a week. For quite some time now.
We hope the gentle start is enough to keep a bit of freshness in the star players’ legs right until the end. Because we can’t see players like Palmer and Nicolas Jackson getting used more and more in the cups as the rounds pass.
