James Goldman
Published December 4, 2025 7:51am
Updated December 4, 2025 7:51am
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Enzo Maresca saw his side’s recent good run end as Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Leeds United (Picture: Getty)
John Terry has urged Enzo Maresca to go back to basics and forget about rotating his squad following last night’s damaging defeat against Leeds United.
Chelsea were riding the crest of a wave following a convincing win over Barcelona and a hugely encouraging performance against league leaders Arsenal that had many pundits suggesting they were firmly in a Premier League title race.
Given their hectic recent schedule it was, perhaps, understandable that Maresca opted to make changes to his starting XI at Elland Road.
The Blues were without the suspended Moises Caicedo following his red card against the Gunners and while Maresca had no option but to replace the Ecuador international with Andrey Santos, four further alterations appeared to upset the balance of his team.
Two goals in the opening half from Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanka were just reward for Leeds’ dominance and although half-time substitute Pedro Neto brought the visitors back into the contest, another defensive catastrophe allowed Dominic Calvert-Lewin to seal a much-needed win for Leeds with 18 minutes remaining.
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Cole Palmer did at least make his hugely anticipated return from injury after a two-month lay-off but Chelsea now find themselves nine points adrift of pacesetters Arsenal who saw off Brentford last night.
In order to get themselves back into the race, Terry believes Maresca needs to decided on a settled starting XI and rely on a maximum of 14 players in an effort to achieve a level of consistency.
Ezno Maresca's Chelsea rotation
Chelsea starting XI vs Arsenal: Sanchez, Gusto, Chalobah, Fofana, Cucurella, Caicedo, James, Neto, Fernandez, Estevao, Joao Pedro.
Chelsea starting XI vs Leeds United: Sanchez; Chalobah, Tosin, Badiashile, Cucurella; Andrey Santos, Fernandez; Estevao, Joao Pedro, Gittens; Delap
It was a night to forget for Tosin Adarabioyo (Picture: Getty)
He said: ‘What a poor performance that was. Everything I said about Leeds away is they’re going to be aggressive, the fans are going to be up for it the fans are going to be hostile.
‘You either have to match them or you go and take the sting out of it completely and we certainly didn’t do that in the first half.
‘We showed glimpses in the second half when Neto comes on and gets back in the game at 2-1 but we can’t perform like that.
‘We can’t follow two unbelievable performances against Barcelona and Arsenal because it’s certainly not going to make you title contenders at the end of it.
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Cole Palmer did at least make his comeback from injury for Chelsea (Picture: Getty)
‘That’s what’s going to cost us at the end of it, we’re inexperienced and if you can’t go Leeds away and know what to expect. You need to go there and show the fight and match Leeds in every single way.
‘You need to earn the right to play and after 15, 20 minutes then you play your football. We didn’t do that tonight that’s going to cost us.
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‘We’ve got Bournemouth away and some tough away fixtures coming up which are only getting tougher. We need to find a way to deal with that.
‘Even when I played you know Leeds away a fight is on your hands right from the word go. You need to make sure everyone’s up for it.
‘Goal from a set piece, individual mistakes, defensively there were mistakes. Clearly not good enough.
‘Maybe that’s an opportunity for the manager to look at the squad and go rotation is not for me going forward, I know my best starting XI or 13, 14 players and I’m going to stick with that and the players are just going to have to deal with it.’
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