Jamie Redknapp was unimpressed by Chelsea’s first game of the Enzo Maresca era.
The Blues began life under their sixth manager in two years by losing 2-0 at home to Manchester City on Sunday.
Chelsea have signed nine players since the end of last season, having added 12 last summer and spent more than £1bn on transfers since Todd Boehly and Co bought the club in May 2022.
None of Chelsea’s new signings started against City, but four (Renato Veiga, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Marc Guiu and Pedro Neto) came on as substitutes.
Ironically, it was a player sold by Boehly who scored the decisive goal on Sunday. Mateo Kovacic, who left Chelsea in a £25m deal in June 2023, found the long-range goal in the 84th minute to seal City’s victory after Erling Haaland’s first-half opener.
Enzo Maresca pictured during his first game as Chelsea manager: a 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City
Former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic scored Manchester City’s second goal at Stamford Bridge
Former Liverpool and Tottenham captain Redknapp was part of the… Sky sports The Chelsea manager joined the team of pundits at Stamford Bridge and did not hold back in his criticism after the match against Maresca’s side.
“This Chelsea team… it’s like you’ve put together a bunch of unknowns and it’s very difficult to do that,” Redknapp said. “You’re putting players in off the bench, you’re trying to make things happen.”
‘Maresca will need a lot of time to get them to play the way he wants them to and find out what his best XI is, because they have spent £1.2bn and still don’t have a top striker and I’m not even sure they have a good goalkeeper.
‘Despite all the money they’ve spent, they probably haven’t covered two of the most important areas.’
Nicolas Jackson was Chelsea’s starting striker on Sunday. The 23-year-old Senegalese international had just one shot and was caught offside twice.
Meanwhile, Roberto Sanchez, who played the full 90 minutes against Chelsea, is one of six senior goalkeepers currently in the Stamford Bridge squad, alongside 22-year-old Filip Jorgensen, 32-year-old Marcus Bettinelli, 24-year-old Dorde Petrovic, 21-year-old Lucas Bergstrom and 29-year-old Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp was unimpressed by Chelsea’s performance on Sunday
Chelsea have spent more than £1bn since Todd Boehly became part-owner in May 2022
Chelsea’s next game is against Swiss side Servette in the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday evening.
The Blues travel to Wolves three days later in search of their first points of the Premier League season.