Enzo Maresca was not happy with Liam Delap on Wednesday night.
Only just back from injury for Chelsea's Carabao Cup fourth round clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers, the striker will now miss another Premier League match after being sent off at Molineux.
The 22-year-old had missed ten matches in all competitions due to a hamstring injury and will now miss the Premier League clash with fierce London rivals Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
Maresca said after the game: "After the yellow card, I told him four or five times, keep calm. But Liam is a player inside the pitch, playing the game for himself and he struggles to listen to things around him.
"Very stupid red card that was completely unnecessary. Absolutely deserved. It was a stupid foul. We can avoid that. I completely support the red card."
Disciplinary problems
Chelsea have the worst disciplinary record, not only in the English top flight, but across Europe's top five divisions. Delap's sending off was the Blues' fifth of the season in all competitions, with only Spanish side Girona suffering as many red cards.
Chelsea take on Spurs at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with the game live on Sky Sports at 5.30pm. It is the big game of the weekend, with the two teams expecting to be jostling for Champions League positions come the end of the season.
Without Delap, Maresca is likely to have to call upon Marc Guiu again in the striker role, unless he goes with Joao Pedro as the central striker, although he has hinted already that he does not see the Brazilian playing there.
"Joao Pedro is not a number nine that is going to score 20 goals each year. Joao's a fantastic player, he's going to score and give assists but he's a different kind of nine to ones that score 20 to 25 goals each year like [Robert] Lewandowski, [Kylian] Mbappe or [Erling] Haaland."
Injury problems
Delap is added to a list of players Maresca cannot call upon for the derby with Spurs, and while it will be frustrating not to have him available, after just getting him back, there are two, perhaps bigger problems for the clash.
Chelsea's injury list boasts key names like Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill and Benoit Badiashile already and two of those names are perhaps bigger misses than Delap would be.
Palmer is a hugely influential figure for the Blues, while Colwill is also an integral part of the defence when he is available. Not only that, but both have a perfect record when playing against Tottenham.
Palmer has been involved in all four games against Spurs in the past two seasons, with a 100% record from those matches, scoring three goals and providing two assists.
Colwill missed one of those four through injury, but also has a 100% record as a Chelsea player against Tottenham. He did, however, lose to Spurs while he was on loan at Brighton - a 2-1 defeat in 2023.