Former Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney raised concerns about Enzo Maresca’s frequent team changes at Chelsea. He suggested that senior players should question the manager’s constant rotation policy. His comments followed Chelsea’s 2-2 Champions League draw against Qarabag. Maresca made seven changes to his starting lineup, continuing a pattern seen in recent matches.
“The players want to play, they want to build relationships,” Rooney said on The Wayne Rooney Show. “When you keep chopping and changing then the players won’t be happy. I think that will come back to bite them. If they are getting results all the time then you can’t question it but if they’re not, there has to be questions asked.”
According to Rooney, Reece James and other senior figures in the squad should not stay silent. “I think most clubs now have a leadership group and as a group you have to go and question the manager,” he added. “You hear people talk about ‘player power’ but this isn’t player power. I’d be concerned if the team kept changing. If I was in that [leadership] group I’d be speaking to my team-mates saying ‘Look, I’m not happy with this.’”
So far, Chelsea have made 85 changes across 16 games in all competitions this season — more than any other Premier League team.
After the Qarabag draw, Maresca justified his strategy, insisting it was necessary to manage player workload. “The [selection] is always because we think the plan with the players is the correct one,” Maresca explained. “The intention was to rest Moises [Caicedo], Enzo [Fernandez], Malo [Gusto] and more players. They are not able to play every three days. The Club World Cup affected a lot. We tried to rotate. When we win, nobody mentions that but when we don’t, everyone is focused on that.”
Rooney Softens on Van Dijk Remarks But Stands by His Evaluation
In the same episode, Rooney spoke about his earlier remarks concerning Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk. He admitted that his earlier criticism of the defender might have been a little too harsh. He had earlier accused the Dutch defender of easing off after signing a new contract.
Van Dijk had responded after Liverpool’s Champions League victory over Real Madrid, saying, “I think the comment that I signed my new deal and then it was like ‘that is it’ and I let it slide, I think that was a bit… but that’s my personal opinion and we move on.”
“Maybe I was a bit unfair with that comment,” Rooney acknowledged. “Maybe I was a bit unfair because I don’t know him that well as a person.”
Despite softening his stance, Rooney maintained that his evaluation of Van Dijk’s performances this season was accurate. “From a performance point of view I think I was speaking what I felt and what I was seeing and I felt I was right,” Rooney added. “Van Dijk will judge himself by them [high standards]. When he reflects on his performances this season he’d be the first to say they haven’t been at the standard he’s set.”
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