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EPL Premier League Action It has not been the best week for Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca. Basic numbers will tell you that. Fixtures against Brentford, Bayern Munich and Manchester United have returned one draw and the first two defeats of the campaign. Seven goals have been conceded. It is by no means a disaster and a Carabao Cup tie at League One side Lincoln City on Tuesday provides an early opportunity to turn around the negative momentum. Advertisement But this was the first test Maresca has faced in his coaching career when it comes to managing a squad through a Premier League-Champions League-Premier League schedule and the results alone will say he did not pass it. However, there is more to scrutinise. The Italian made big decisions in all three games and the concern will be that he got many of them wrong. Let’s start with the 2-2 at Brentford. By making a triple substitution at half-time — Chelsea were trailing 1-0 — and a fourth 11 minutes after the restart, Maresca made a public admission that he made mistakes with his starting XI. Though it can be seen as a positive, his intervention helped, with Chelsea posing much more of an attacking threat and coming within minutes of winning 2-1. Three of those substitutes are key members of the first XI in Cole Palmer, Reece James and Marc Cucurella. Afterwards, Maresca denied that leaving them out had anything to do with him having an eye on the Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich four days later. Given that Palmer has had groin injury problems (more of that later), you can perhaps accept that one. But to have Wesley Fofana, lacking sharpness in his first start for six months, and 19-year-old Jorrel Hato (making his first start since joining from Ajax) play instead of James and Cucurella? Maresca claimed the plan was to give Fofana 45 minutes and for Hato not to finish the match. It didn’t really add up. With Liam Delap unavailable due to a groin injury, Maresca also chose not to include the only other fit striker, Marc Guiu — who was recalled from loan at Sunderland last month — on the bench. Again, rather odd, even if at 19 he is slightly raw. Against Bayern, the problem was being reactive rather than proactive. Chelsea were still in the game at 2-1 down yet, 10 minutes after the interval, the home side were on top and some of Maresca’s players were beginning to struggle. Substitutes spent a lot of time warming up, yet stayed on the sidelines. A few changes then could have injected spark. It would have also disrupted Bayern. But Andrey Santos and Alejandro Garnacho were introduced five minutes after Harry Kane extended Bayern’s lead. Too late. Advertisement The worst performance was saved till last, against Manchester United on Saturday. Until Casemiro foolishly got himself sent off in the 37th minute to gift Chelsea a way back into the contest, it was as poor a showing since Maresca took charge. It was not Maresca’s fault that goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was dismissed in the fifth minute for a rash challenge on Bryan Mbeumo. His response was questionable, though. One substitution had to be made in order for back-up keeper Filip Jorgensen to come on and it made sense that Estevao Willian made way, given how new he is to the Premier League. But he took off the other winger, Pedro Neto, as well, bringing on Tosin Adarabioyo. This left Chelsea with no one with pace to run in behind or provide an out ball for the defence when they were a man down. Maresca obviously had no crystal ball to know Casemiro would be sent off, but Neto was also sorely missed when it was 10 v 10. When asked by The Athletic about the thinking behind it, Maresca replied: “The reason why we changed Pedro and Estevao was because they (Manchester United) attack with five players always, and we defend with the four. We can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against 10, I think we need to defend all the width, so we decided to go with the back five. ” But there was another thing that made the Neto choice odd. Soon afterwards, Palmer had to go off due to the groin injury he has struggled with in recent weeks. This meant Chelsea set a Premier League first of making three substitutions in the opening 21 minutes. Maresca said afterwards that Palmer was a doubt for the game and had undergone a fitness test on the morning of the fixture. Clearly, leaving Palmer out or taking him off when Sanchez was dismissed is a huge call because of his hugely influential talent. But given he had to leave the fray anyway, it would have been the right one. To make matters worse, Facundo Buonanotte, signed from Brighton on loan mainly to provide cover for Palmer, was not in the matchday squad. The final substitutions came in the 64th minute with Chelsea 2-0 down. Did he turn to the two wingers bought this summer for a combined £88. 5million ($119. 3m) in Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho — the Argentine receiving intense abuse from United fans on his return to Old Trafford — or Guiu? No. Advertisement He sent on defender Malo Gusto and academy graduate Tyrique George, who saw a move to Fulham break down on deadline day. Asked if the bad reception Garnacho was getting played a part in what happened, Maresca added: “No. I sent him to warm up and he was ready to go on, and then Wes (Fofana) asked for a change. So we decided to go with Malo. ” It has to be pointed out that Chelsea finished the game stronger. A header from Trevoh Chalobah with 10 minutes remaining gave hope of rescuing a point. This is just the start of Maresca’s second season in charge. The way his first finished means he has credit in the bank. The players also have to take responsibility. The side have scored the opening goal just once so far and that came after Josh King had a strike for Fulham controversially disallowed. But Chelsea have won only two of those opening six games, and that is far from the start Maresca and this club would have wanted. (Top photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Simon Johnson has spent the majority of his career as a sports reporter since 2000 covering Chelsea, firstly for Hayters and then the London Evening Standard. This included going to every game home and away as the west London club secured the Champions League in 2012. He has also reported on the England national team between 2008-19 and been a regular contributor to talk SPORT radio station for over a decade. Follow Simon on Twitter @SJohnson Sport