I saw £120k-a-week Chelsea player let Enzo Maresca down after making zero tackles vs Ipswich

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Enzo Maresca will be disappointed with most of his Chelsea players following their 2-0 defeat against Ipswich Town on Monday.

Enzo Maresca tried to give some of his fringe players a chance, making five changes. But they did not do much to convince the Italian that they should be starting more often.

Christopher Nkunku was very poor, for example. However, the forward was obviously not the only one to disappoint on the night.

Maresca cannot be happy with the likes of Tosin Adarabioyo or Axel Disasi either, with the latter giving away a very sloppy goal in the second half.

• READ MORE: Tosin Adarabioyo shares what Raheem Sterling first told him about Cole Palmer after watching him at Man City

Tosin Adarabioyo failed to do his job against Ipswich Town

When Chelsea were looking into signing Adarabioyo, one thing that would have appealed to them is his height.

Adarabioyo stands at 6’5″, so when Maresca gave him the nod to start at Portman Road, the Chelsea head coach would have expected the 27-year-old to compete against Liam Delap.

Yet his central defender was absolutely battered by the centre-forward. Adarabioyo went on to win just one aerial duel despite his incredible height, while he failed to make a single tackle.

With Ipswich having such a powerful No.9 in Delap, it is the sort of game Chelsea signed Adarabioyo for. But in the end, he simply could not deliver for his manager. According to Spotrac, the former Fulham player earns £120,000 a week at Stamford Bridge.

Enzo Maresca’s honest assessment of Tosin Adarabioyo and the rest of Chelsea’s defence

Delap is coming in for a lot of praise following his performance against Chelsea and rightly so.

Delap is one striker Chelsea should be considering going into the new year as they weigh up signing another centre-forward.

For as good as he was, though, Maresca feels Adarabioyo and Chelsea’s backline as a whole could have defended against him a bit better.

Speaking to football.london and other outlets after the game, the Chelsea boss said: “This is Liam. I know Liam from some time ago. Probably in some moments we can defend a bit better. But congratulations to him and to them.”

Things do not get any easier for Adarabioyo and Co either. Chelsea have to take on another physical striker, Jean-Philippe Mateta, when they travel to Selhurst Park on Saturday to face Crystal Palace. It could be another difficult test for their backline.