Ex-England striker Peter Crouch felt Pedro Neto was left visibly ‘frustrated’ with Alejandro Garnacho during Chelsea’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.
Chelsea were looking to kick on from their statement win over the champions Liverpool before the international break, but what followed was a sluggish first-half performance from the Blues at the City Ground.
Enzo Maresca decided to ring the changes at the halfway stage, though, and the bold triple substitution proved a masterstroke, with Josh Acheampong and Pedro Neto both netting within seven minutes of the restart.
Hosts Forest were denied by both Robert Sanchez and the woodwork before Reece James struck from close range to put the visitors out of sight in the 82nd minute.
The result ultimately led to Ange Postecoglou’s dismissal after a total of just 39 days in the job, with only Wolves and West Ham separating Forest from the bottom of the table.
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Chelsea, meanwhile, moved up to sixth place, level on points with bitter rivals Spurs, who entertain Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon.
Andrey Santos, Romeo Lavia and Garnacho were all hauled off by Maresca at half-time, with Moises Caicedo, Jamie Gittens and Marc Guiu thrown on to spark some life into Chelsea after a slow start.
Garnacho was especially ineffective before the break – and only Joao Pedro had fewer touches than the Argentine before Gittens was sent on in his place.
The former Manchester United winger also managed to get on the wrong side of Neto midway through the first half when his wayward cross towards the back post went straight out of play.
‘Chelsea were a bit sloppy. Credit to Enzo [Maresca] for making those changes,’ former Tottenham and Liverpool forward Crouch said on TNT Sports at the interval.
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‘I know Neto was really frustrated with him [Garnacho]. He was crossing the ball and not getting on the other side.
‘Neto was really frustrated with him.’
Despite his early substitution, Garnacho insisted he was ‘happy’ that Chelsea managed to come away from the contest with maximum points.
‘Happy for these three important points!’ the forward told his followers on Instagram shortly after the final whistle.
Speaking to Chelsea’s official website, Maresca admitted his players let themselves down with too many ‘mistakes’ in possession in the opening 45 minutes.
‘In the first half we struggled a little bit,’ he said.
‘Off the ball we were good, but on the ball we made some mistakes and conceded chances to them.
‘My message at half-time was the way we were pressing was good, but on the ball we were not good enough.
‘We were sloppy in the build-up. Second half we adjusted something tactically and we were better.’
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