Enzo Maresca agrees with Reece James' scathing Chelsea verdict as Jadon Sancho truth clear

Has there ever been a time where a team reached the semi-finals of a European competition and were booed off the pitch by their own fans? Unfortunately for Chelsea, that was the reality on Thursday evening.

And after an extremely drab display against Legia Warsaw, who clinched their first-ever win on English territory, you can hardly blame the fans. Reece James, the club captain, delivered a scathing interview post-match where he more or less the football Chelsea were playing at Stamford Bridge was boring. He also admitted he and his players "disrespected" the competition.

Enzo Maresca was asked about his skipper's comments in his press conference and the head coach could not disagree. He would have wanted to, but he could not. There have some poor performances from the Blues recently, but this felt the worst of the lot.

Maresca went with a strong line-up that included the likes of Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Marc Cucurella from the start, despite the west Londoners bringing a three-goal advantage back to their home after last week's first leg in Warsaw. During Wednesday's pre-match press conference, Maresca was asked whether this group of players were ready to play Champions League football next season and his answer was a pretty emphatic 'yes'.

Based on Thursday's showing, however, that is far from the reality. Whether or not Chelsea disrespected the competition, the opponent, whatever; a victory for Legia Warsaw should never have been the final outcome. Bobby Vincent was at Stamford Bridge for the quarter-final second leg - and he has compiled some interesting talking points below:

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Maresca confessed post-match that part of his thinking for playing Palmer and Jackson on Thursday evening was to try and get the out-of-form duo back amongst the goals. Palmer had two golden opportunities to do just that within the opening minutes of the game but hit one way off target and saw his diving header well saved, while Jackson never really got a sniff off the Legia goal during his 45 minutes.

It was always the plan to give Jackson the first-half and then hook him, with Sunday's crucial trip to Craven Cottage - against a very impressive Fulham side - in mind. Palmer, meanwhile, got an hour at Stamford Bridge and the 22-year-old took a knock in the first-half after being brutally kicked by Legia's goal scorer Tomas Pekhart. He played on and eventually ran it off and Maresca will be praying it is nothing more serious than a knock that he eventually recovered from.

Cucurella came off at the same time as Palmer and the significance of the Spaniard continues to increase as the season goes on. Only Noni Madueke has scored more than the left-back in 2025. The trio will most likely be asked to go again when 2pm comes around on Sunday, but the preparation seems to be far from ideal, though it has perhaps been magnified by the performance and result on Thursday night.

Sancho resurgence

Do not get it twisted, this is still not the vintage Jadon Sancho we saw during his first spell at Borussia Dortmund. But what it is, is a Sancho that has drastically improved over the past three games.

The 25-year-old's future at Stamford Bridge remains uncertain with Chelsea having a £5million break clause in their obligation to buy him from Manchester United - though it is much more complex and not as straightforward as some are suggesting. Sancho, though, in the last three matches, albeit against Legia Warsaw (twice) and Ipswich Town) has now produced three assists and scored one goal.

In this mini three-game interval, he has been Chelsea's most in-form attacking player. His assist for Cucurella on Thursday was Sancho at his very best: running at the full-back, beating him with ease and delivering a pinpoint cutback for his teammate to tap into the back on the net.

It seems something has clicked. Perhaps a realisation from Sancho that his future in west London is in doubt. He has stepped up in recent matches where Chelsea have looked far from their best.

Setback for Maresca

Maresca was fairly damning in his post-match presser. If he had come out and been positive about what we witnessed, it would not have gone down well with the Chelsea supporters, who are becoming increasingly frustrated with the team's form in 2025.

"No, for sure, it's a setback for us tonight, no doubt," the Italian admitted to reporters at Stamford Bridge. "But I said yesterday [Wednesday], I think probably the other clubs [around Chelsea in the Premier League], in this moment they can feel more confidence around them, not only Aston Villa, Newcastle, all the clubs around us, but this is football and can change very quickly.

"So it depends a lot on us. As I said, Sunday for us is one of the finals, and winning that game can give us a final boost to reach our target. So in this moment, you win games, you see yourself and you are very happy. If you don't win, no-one is thinking that you can finish in the right way, but for me it's just how we manage the emotion."

It has been a really concerning drop off for Chelsea. In the first half of the 2024/25 season (up until the last game of 2024 on December 30), the Blues have played 19 matches in all competitions, winning nine of them, losing six and drawing four.