Enzo Maresca gives scathing verdict on Chelsea's 3-0 defeat by Brighton as Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher slam Blues

Enzo Maresca has labelled Chelsea’s performance against Brighton on Friday night as ‘the worst’ of his time as the Blues boss. 

Chelsea suffered a humbling 3-0 defeat by the Seagulls, thanks to a wondergoal from Kaoru Mitoma and a brace from Yankuba Minteh. 

The Blues failed to register a shot on target in the match, just six days after managing only one in a 2-1 FA Cup defeat by the same opponent. In truth, Chelsea were fortunate to escape their south coast ordeal with only three concessions. 

And a downbeat Maresca, who is under pressure amid his side’s poor recent form, admitted that the display was the worst of his seven-month tenure. 

‘I feel sorry for the fans,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘It is not the right performance that we can offer, especially at this moment in the season. We need to stick together.

‘I feel pressure always. The performance was the worst since I arrived so it is not the right moment but we are still in fourth and in the race to finish in Europe.’

The Blues failed to register a shot on target during the match, having managed just one in their meeting with the Seagulls last week

Yankuba Minteh (left) tormented the Chelsea defence and scored a brace in the convincing win

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville, who was on punditry duty for the game, said the Blues looked like a ‘five-a-side’ team in a scathing assessment of their performance against Fabian Hurzeler’s side.

‘They looked like a five-a-side team. No penetration, never saw them bust a gut to get into the box, make a fast run forward,’ he said. ‘I didn’t see anything I liked from Chelsea tonight and it was a really poor, poor performance.’

Chelsea missed the chance to pull clear of a pack of Champions League-chasing sides that includes Manchester City, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Brighton and Aston Villa. 

Having now played a game more than those sides, with the exception of Brighton, the Blues could end the weekend down in sixth place with 13 games of the campaign left to play.

Maresca added: ‘This result, the frustration is about everything. For sure, we feel really sorry for the fans that come here and the moment that we are in, the position we are in, we need to do much better than what we have done tonight.

‘I think in terms of controlling the game or keeping the ball we did that. But I said before the game when you don’t have a [striker] who can be a threat we need to find different solutions. It is not only about chances.

‘There are many things we have to do better. We still have many games to go and we are still in a good position. We need to do our best and try to finish in the best way.

‘We are in a moment when we feel we can concede easily and struggle to score. I think before the goal they didn’t have some chances. There are many things we can do better.’

Jamie Carragher claimed that Chelsea were ‘absolutely battered’ by their opponents on Friday night

Kaoru Mitoma opened the scoring for the home side with a wonder strike to light up the Amex

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher joined in on the pile on, claiming that the Blues were ‘absolutely battered’ by their hosts.  

‘Badly beaten and it could have been a lot worse,’ he said on commentary. ‘When you think of the saves the goalkeeper made, I think one hit the woodwork as well – [Brighton] absolutely battered them in all departments. 

‘Just watching the Chelsea players going over to the supporters, there are very few of them there and they are an angry bunch.’ 

Chelsea have just over a week to regroup before they travel to Villa Park to take on a rejuvenated Aston Villa.