On a ferocious night in Newcastle came the first major blip of Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea reign, his team of second-stringers hassled out of the Carabao Cup by a home side playing with a different level of urgency and intent en route to a 2-0 win.In recent midweeks, this group of Chelsea players had cruised past Gent, Barrow and a weakened Panathinaikos by an aggregate score of 13-3 and perhaps the lack of jeopardy in those victories had a softening effect.This, by contrast, was a Premier League fixture only three days ago and the Blues arrived on Tyneside unprepared for another, in all but name.From the returning Anthony Gordon’s first-minute challenge through to the half-time whistle, Eddie Howe’s men were relentless and Maresca’s seemingly startled by a fizzing atmosphere and the scarcity of time and space to play.Frazzled by the onslaught, Chelsea sought respite in all the wrong places. Instead of using their pacy outlets, they continued to play from deep and slackened off for an ill-advised breather at a Newcastle free-kick.
