Match of the Day’s Leon Osman and Stephen Warnock analyse how Phil Foden shone in Manchester City’s Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad.
WATCH MORE: Foden nets twice to help Man City thrash Dortmund
Are Chelsea rotating too much?
The Blues have made multiple line-up changes in all their recent matches and have tweaked the starting XI more than any other Premier League side this season.
But, after they narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat at Champions League minnows Qarabag, there were those questioning whether they might be overdoing the changes.
On Wednesday, substitute Alejandro Garnacho saved Chelsea by equalising early in the second half, in a chaotic, open 2-2 draw at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku.
Estevao Willian had opened the scoring but mistakes from defender Jorrel Hato saw Leandro Andrade and Marko Jankovic put Qarabag ahead – a shock lead given they are a team worth just £22m, which is less than £1m per squad player.
The Blues, with a squad worth well over £1bn, were particularly poor in the first half, especially compared to the dominant 1-0 win away at Tottenham on Saturday. However, this was a very different starting 11.
Just goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, full-backs Reece James and Marc Cucurella, and forward Joao Pedro started in North London.
It was the fifth-consecutive match across all competitions where manager Enzo Maresca has made at least seven changes to his starting 11. No Premier League club has made more than Chelsea’s 85 changes in 16 matches across all competitions this season.
The constant changing has left Maresca open to criticisms of being too much of a ‘tinkerman’, an unwanted nickname once given to his compatriot Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea.
Defending his approach, Maresca said: “When we make changes it is because we think the plan with the players that start is the correct one.
“I think today, we start in the right way, we score the goal and then, again, we concede two goals that we can avoid. [Also] in their box, for the amount of times that we are there, probably we can be more clinical.
Both literally and figuratively, you never know which Chelsea is going to turn up.
Chelsea have lurched from negative to positive throughout this campaign, playing well against bigger teams but often not as well against so-called lesser opposition.
In big games, the likes of Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, and Garnacho usually start.
However, Maresca is managing the fitness of all three of those players , as he also is with returning striker Liam Delap. In addition, key players like Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill are injured.
There are further mitigating factors behind the extreme nature of Maresca’s rotation, given Chelsea endured a 13-month season last year, due to winning the Club World Cup in July, which also shortened pre-season to less than two weeks.
The Italian added: “We have players, the intention tonight was to rest Enzo [Fernandez], to rest Moises [Caicedo], to rest Malo [Gusto], to rest more players, because they are not able to play every three days.
“They need recovery from last season, as you say, the Club World Cup affects a lot. We try to rotate when you win, no-one mentioned all that.
“I know that when we don’t win, everyone is focused on that and now I think it’s important to recover energy for Saturday and go again.”
Yet rivals like Spurs and Arsenal have done fewer rotations in the last few weeks, in back-to-back matches, which is surely designed to help build cohesion and consistency despite the differing recent fortunes of the two North London clubs.
Maresca is not helped by the underwhelming performances by some of those coming in.
Alongside Hato, forwards Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George struggled, as did midfielder Andrey Santos, all of them aged 21 or younger, against a brave Qarabag side proving themselves to be Europe’s giant-killers this season having already beaten Benfica and Copenhagen
Midfielder Romeo Lavia also started but pulled up after just four minutes, leaving Chelsea briefllywith 10 men before he was substituted off.
There have to be real concerns about the long-term fitness of the Belgian international signed from Southampton for £53m in 2023.
European football expert Julien Laurens, who analysed the game for Champions League Match of the Day, said: “All the changes worked for them last season but I think tonight showed they can’t expect to do it when they are in the Champions League.
“Doing it and competing in a Champions League and Premier League combo is very different to doing it in a season where you are playing in the Conference League, when you can easily win with your B team.
“Before they won at Spurs on Sunday, they were ninth in the table and not doing that great in the Champions League with two wins and a defeat, but tonight is a bit of a step back, I think.
“With young players like Hato – and Gittens a bit too -even if they have both had some Champions League experience before, you can see that with a lot of young players the Champions League level is a little bit too high.
“You end up with a result like this where you drop points. In the grand scheme of things they will still qualify, we cannot be worried about Chelsea not getting through, but still it does not look good.
“Going forward, I think it will be difficult to manage the two competitions this way. That’s why even [Manchester City manager] Pep Guardiola doesn’t make so many changes, or [Arsenal manager] Mikel Arteta either, even with a much deeper and more experienced squad.
“I think it explains Chelsea’s inconsistency this season.
“That’s one of the reservations I’ve got a bit about Maresca in the way he deals with and manages his whole squad.
“It is a big squad so I understand he wants to keep people fresh, especially after the Club World Cup. I can understand the load management, sure. But making so many changes all the time, we can see it does not help them.
“Today they had to bring on Caicedo for Lavia because of injury but then at half-time, three [key] players have to come on because they are behind.
The agency made the announcement on Wednesday as it struggles with staffing issues brought on by air traffic controllers’ unpaid work and delays across the country.
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The agency, according to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, is not going to wait until a problem arises because the shutdown is putting pressure on staff and “we can’t ignore it.”
Later on Wednesday, Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will discuss how to safely implement the reduction. They will meet with airline leaders.
13, 000 air traffic controllers and 50, 000 TSA officers were forced to work unpaid because of the shutdown, which is currently in its 36th day. This has resulted in longer lines at airport security screening, increased staff shortages, and widespread flight delays.
The action aims to relieve air traffic controllers of pressure. If additional air traffic issues arise after Friday, the FAA has also warned that it may impose more restrictions on flights.
Duffy had earlier warned on Tuesday that if the government shutdown lasted for another week, it could cause “mass chaos” and force him to shut down some of the country’s airspace, a drastic move that could end American aviation.
Airlines have repeatedly called for the shutdown to end, citing concerns about aviation safety.
In extended trading, the shares of major airlines, including United Airlines and American Airlines, dropped by about 1%.
Since the shutdown started on October 1st, an industry group estimated that more than 3.2 million passengers have experienced flight delays or cancellations as a result of increasing air traffic controller absences. Legislators have been concerned about the impact on operations from airlines.
Airlines claim that the government shutdown hasn’t had a significant impact on their business, but they’ve warned that if it drags on, bookings may decrease. On Wednesday, there were more than 2,100 delays.
According to FAA’s Bedford, 20 to 40% of controllers at the agency’s 30 largest airports were late arriving for work on Tuesday.
Alan Sheehan insists he will “find a solution” to his side’s attacking failings after defeat at Preston North End on Wednesday left Swansea City with only one win in six Championship matches.
Swansea were beaten 2-1 by the high-flying Lilywhites despite having 18 efforts on goal compared to Preston’s four.
The lack of a cutting edge has been the theme of Swansea’s season, with Sheehan feeling points went begging at Preston just as they had done in last weekend’s draw at Charlton Athletic.
“[It is] the same message as the other day. When we get into those areas, we need to be a bit more clinical, a bit more calm,” the Swansea head coach said.
“That’s the difference between one point and six [this week]. We have been in every single game this year – a lot of our draws have felt like losses.
Swansea fell behind to a stunning Thierry Small goal at Preston before controlling long spells of the game.
Having wasted chances to equalise before half-time, Swansea conceded a second goal on the counter-attack early in the second period before substitute Eom Jisung’s goal gave Sheehan’s team hope 10 minutes from time.
But for all their endeavour, Swansea lacked the quality to find a leveller and suffered a third defeat in their past six league games.
“I think it’s been a tough block [since the October international break],” Sheehan added.
“We didn’t play well against Southampton. We had 10 men for an hour against QPR. We beat Norwich and then in the last two games, we have gone away to top-10 teams at the moment and come away with one point.
“We should be coming away with a lot more than that, I think if everybody’s being fair. I am very frustrated.”
Alan Sheehan insists he will “find a solution” to his side’s attacking failings after defeat at Preston North End on Wednesday left Swansea City with only one win in six Championship matches.
Swansea were beaten 2-1 by the high-flying Lilywhites despite having 18 efforts on goal compared to Preston’s four.
The lack of a cutting edge has been the theme of Swansea’s season, with Sheehan feeling points went begging at Preston just as they had done in last weekend’s draw at Charlton Athletic.
“[It is] the same message as the other day. When we get into those areas, we need to be a bit more clinical, a bit more calm,” the Swansea head coach said.
“That’s the difference between one point and six [this week]. We have been in every single game this year – a lot of our draws have felt like losses.
Swansea fell behind to a stunning Thierry Small goal at Preston before controlling long spells of the game.
Having wasted chances to equalise before half-time, Swansea conceded a second goal on the counter-attack early in the second period before substitute Eom Jisung’s goal gave Sheehan’s team hope 10 minutes from time.
But for all their endeavour, Swansea lacked the quality to find a leveller and suffered a third defeat in their past six league games.
“I think it’s been a tough block [since the October international break],” Sheehan added.
“We didn’t play well against Southampton. We had 10 men for an hour against QPR. We beat Norwich and then in the last two games, we have gone away to top-10 teams at the moment and come away with one point.
“We should be coming away with a lot more than that, I think if everybody’s being fair. I am very frustrated.”
Alan Sheehan insists he will “find a solution” to his side’s attacking failings after defeat at Preston North End on Wednesday left Swansea City with only one win in six Championship matches.
Swansea were beaten 2-1 by the high-flying Lilywhites despite having 18 efforts on goal compared to Preston’s four.
The lack of a cutting edge has been the theme of Swansea’s season, with Sheehan feeling points went begging at Preston just as they had done in last weekend’s draw at Charlton Athletic.
“[It is] the same message as the other day. When we get into those areas, we need to be a bit more clinical, a bit more calm,” the Swansea head coach said.
“That’s the difference between one point and six [this week]. We have been in every single game this year – a lot of our draws have felt like losses.
Swansea fell behind to a stunning Thierry Small goal at Preston before controlling long spells of the game.
Having wasted chances to equalise before half-time, Swansea conceded a second goal on the counter-attack early in the second period before substitute Eom Jisung’s goal gave Sheehan’s team hope 10 minutes from time.
But for all their endeavour, Swansea lacked the quality to find a leveller and suffered a third defeat in their past six league games.
“I think it’s been a tough block [since the October international break],” Sheehan added.
“We didn’t play well against Southampton. We had 10 men for an hour against QPR. We beat Norwich and then in the last two games, we have gone away to top-10 teams at the moment and come away with one point.
“We should be coming away with a lot more than that, I think if everybody’s being fair. I am very frustrated.”