Enzo Maresca: Liam Delap apologised at once to Chelsea team-mates after red card

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said Liam Delap apologised immediately to his team-mates following his red card in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Wolves, but that the striker must learn quickly to stamp indiscipline out of his game.

Delap was booked twice in seven minutes at Molineux after coming on as a substitute, the first for a push on defender Yerson Mosquera, then for barging into Emmanuel Agbadou, as his return from a two-month injury lay-off lasted only 26 minutes.

It was a sixth Chelsea red card in nine matches and afterwards Maresca ditched his previously mild manner when discussing his team’s discipline, accusing the 22-year-old of “playing the game for himself” and “struggling to realise” his responsibilities.

Ahead of Saturday’s trip to rivals Tottenham in the Premier League – for which Delap will once again be unavailable – the Italian attempted to clarify his position and took a more conciliatory tone.

“I’m not from England so sometimes when I try to translate from Italian, sometimes it’s a bit different,” he said.

“When Liam is on the pitch, he’s more focused to do his battle against the central defender than the rest. That’s what I was trying to say.

“Straight after the game in the changing room, he apologised to everyone.

“I know Liam. I know he will be a fantastic payer for us, but there are some things, like the rest, that he needs to improve.

“It’s something we need to learn and we have to do better. For sure, no doubt in the future we are going to be better.”

Up next: A trip to north London.