Chelsea: Enzo Maresca's gamble backfires in worst defeat of Blues tenure as major flaw is highlighted | OneFootball

The Blues endured a miserable night at Portman Road as old faces came back to haunt Enzo Maresca

A year of steadily growing promise for Chelsea finished with a night of throwback misery, inflicted by Enzo Maresca’s former academy charge, Liam Delap, and one of Cobham’s own, Omari Hutchinson.

A run of three games over Christmas has brought just one point; given Chelsea’s form coming into it, nine looked a more likely return. They now sit fourth, behind not only runaway leaders Liverpool, but Nottingham Forest and Arsenal as well, with a resurgent Newcastle back within striking distance. Manchester City, with the promise of January reinforcement, are still well in the scrap.

There is an element of regression to the mean for a young team that outperformed expectations for four months at the start of this campaign, for sure, but this is a wobble which Maresca will have to correct fast. And far more so than the goalless draw at Everton or late defeat at Fulham, this was a result for which the manager held a chunky share of the blame.

To say he underestimated an Ipswich side yet to win at Portman Road since their return to the top-flight might be a stretch, but Maresca’s team selections in the lead up had made clear this would be the night on which he shuffled his pack.

Five changes were made and the four among outfielders all came with stark drop-offs, none more so than at full-back, where Axel Disasi was horribly exposed. Filip Jorgensen, the fifth in goal, made several fine saves but conceded the early Delap penalty that gave Ipswich their basecamp.

A similar ploy of heavy rotation had worked against Southampton at the start of the month, but though they are similarly trapped in a relegation battle, Kieran McKenna’s outfit are no such soft touch. They had held Arsenal to a single-goal margin three nights earlier and had a day less to recover for this fixture, but were relentless, led by the most willing of spearheads in Delap, who Maresca had coached in his Manchester City youth.

This was supposed to be the period of the season when the depth that has seen Chelsea cruise through in Europe would come to the fore on home soil. Maresca’s regular starters came into Christmas fresher than their counterparts at the other leading clubs, and his reserves more match-sharpened than theirs. Instead, the gap between those groups was highlighted here.

Disappointing: Axel Disasi had a difficult night as Chelsea were beaten by Ipswich.

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Noni Madueke, Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku were name-checked pre-match by the manager as players for whom this was a window to impress, but none jumped through it. Cole Palmer, the immoveable maypole at the centre of that attack, was inevitably the visitors’s most dangerous force, striking the woodwork twice to take Chelsea’s tally of such shaves to 15 for the season, the most of any Premier League side.

Maresca had every right to expect more from three senior forwards signed for way north of £100million, and reason, too, given all have had good moments this season. Tellingly, none were still on the pitch as his team searched without joy for a route back into the game late on, every substitution made like-for-like despite the urgency of the need.

The selection of Disasi - a centre-back - at right-back, however, was a little harder to square. Maresca had three specialists available on his bench, albeit a more cautious approach to Reece James’s latest comeback is almost certainly wise.

The thinking, presumably, was to stop Leif Davis enjoying the kind of freedom Antonee Robinson had on Fulham’s left on Boxing Day. But though Disasi is more defensive-minded than Malo Gusto or Josh Acheampong, few of the Frenchman’s performances this season have made anyone feel secure.

His role in the Ipswich second was doubly comical, first gifting the ball to Delap and then recovering quickly enough to be skinned by Hutchinson - sold to the Tractor Boys this summer after a fine Championship loan - as he drove into the far corner. The timing, eight minutes into a second-half the hosts had spent camped in their own box, was everything.

Not for the first time of late, Chelsea’s naivety surfaced; they grew too much frustration, showed too little composure or threat, despite 40 minutes of football left to be played. Heads were lost, scuffles begun and Ipswich’s task of holding on became ultimately serene.

Until the last week, Maresca’s Chelsea reign - on the pitch, at least - has been similarly smooth. The New Year begins and now perhaps so, too, does the real work.