Enzo Maresca admits he could use Chelsea summer signing out of position again

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The bravery and authority that Enzo Maresca has shown during his first few months as the Chelsea head coach has been really impressive.

Enzo Maresca has already made plenty of big decisions at Chelsea this season. While Mauricio Pochettino constantly chopped and changed last year, Maresca has a pretty settled XI in the Premier League and he’s rotated heavily in the cups.

Maresca claimed that Joao Felix and Cole Palmer may soon play in the same Chelsea side, but the recent pattern is that the Blues manager is working with an A team and a B team.

• READ MORE: Enzo Maresca says he could include Chelsea loanee in his squad when he returns

Enzo Maresca says Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall could play on the Chelsea wing again

Chelsea boss Maresca made an interesting comment in Friday’s press conference about Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, whose minutes are mainly coming in cup games rather than the league.

Dewsbury-Hall, who cost the Blues £30m (BBC) to sign from Leicester City in the summer, is definitely a box-to-box central midfielder. However, he played out of position as a right-winger and struggled during the midweek Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United.

The Dewsbury-Hall experiment on the right flank backfired in Chelsea’s last match, but it’s interesting to hear that it may be trialed again in the future.

When asked if he pre-planned Dewsbury-Hall playing on the right wing against Newcastle, Maresca said via Chelsea’s official YouTube channel: “The idea was to try with Kiernan. We played in a different shape against Newcastle, just to try and control the game a little bit more. Try not to make it a basketball game.

“I think for 20 or 25 minutes until their goal, the plan was there but then we conceded a goal and 10 minutes we lost the game. It could be an idea for the future.”

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall off to slow start

Many hoped Dewsbury-Hall would hit the ground running with Chelsea because he was coached by Maresca last year, but it’s not turned out that way for him.

So far, the English midfielder looks quite far down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge. It’s certainly a big step up competing in the Leicester squad compared to the Chelsea one.

If you’re looking for positives, Dewsbury-Hall has provided positive energy into the Chelsea squad. His next job is to try forcing his way into the best Blues line-up, but that’s going to become even more difficult if he’s playing out of position on the wing rather than more centrally.