From the look of things, Chelsea might have discipline issues. Players are losing their heads during games, racking up cards; it’s not a good look.

Following Delap’s reckless behaviour yesterday,  Chelsea now has six red cards in their last nine games. At this point, a Chelsea game isn’t complete without the Blues getting a red card. 

Looking at Delap’s red card, just like Maresca mentioned, it was completely avoidable.  A player who has been out since the start of the season finally returned to action, and he was sent off in under 26 minutes. If that’s not gross indiscipline, you wonder what else it is. 

Maresca rightly lashed out at Delap as he came off. 

“We have a very stupid red card, that was completely unnecessary, absolutely it was a stupid foul, we can avoid that,” Maresca said. “I completely support and understand the red card like against Brighton and Manchester United that is difficult, but the red card against Nottingham and a red card today we can avoid that and we have to avoid that.”

Maresca mentioned that Delap’s actions were embarrassing, saying: “It’s embarrassing when it is a red card like today. It’s embarrassing, two yellow cards in seven minutes. Both I think we can avoid.”

But while the focus is on red cards, the Blues have been picking up a lot of yellow cards as well. 

Yesterday against Wolves, they picked up five yellow cards, with Caicedo and Cucurella, who came on as subs, also getting booked. Cucurella’s yellow card means he will miss the game against Cardiff in December. 

In the Premier League, Chelsea have picked up 18 yellow cards, and it doesn’t look like it’ll stop anytime soon.

Maresca has downplayed the discipline issues, but with Delap’s recklessness yesterday, it is getting to him. He’ll either have to put this squad in check or risk missing players for crucial games and also breaking the record for most red cards in a season.