On a ferocious night in Newcastle came the first major blip of Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea reign, his team of second-stringers hassled out of the Carabao Cup by a home side playing with a different level of urgency and intent en route to a 2-0 win.In recent midweeks, this group of Chelsea players had cruised past Gent, Barrow and a weakened Panathinaikos by an aggregate score of 13-3 and perhaps the lack of jeopardy in those victories had a softening effect.This, by contrast, was a Premier League fixture only three days ago and the Blues arrived on Tyneside unprepared for another, in all but name.From the returning Anthony Gordon’s first-minute challenge through to the half-time whistle, Eddie Howe’s men were relentless and Maresca’s seemingly startled by a fizzing atmosphere and the scarcity of time and space to play.Frazzled by the onslaught, Chelsea sought respite in all the wrong places. Instead of using their pacy outlets, they continued to play from deep and slackened off for an ill-advised breather at a Newcastle free-kick.
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00:00Well, it's just after the full-time whistle here at St James' Park where Chelsea's Carabao Cup run is over.
00:06They've been beaten 2-0 by Newcastle. Thoroughly deserved winners were magnificent in the first half, in particular Eddie Howe's team.
00:13They were relentless, they pressed high at the pitch.
00:16And Chelsea, with Maruska having again made 11 changes, just look like a team not prepared for the intensity of this kind of game.
00:23They've had some really straightforward victories in midweek in recent weeks, including against the likes of Barrow in the previous round of this competition.
00:30But here his players looked almost surprised at the intensity of the game.
00:34It was like a Premier League fixture, as indeed, of course, it was when these two teams met in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
00:42The first major blip really of Maruska's reign, you'd say.
00:45It's only his third defeat and the others came against Manchester City and Liverpool.
00:49And of course, he's now got to get his side rallied.
00:52A completely different set of players again, you would imagine, for the trip to Manchester United on Sunday.
00:56Which has a slightly different look to it now that they've advanced in the Carabao Cup tonight under interim loss, Ruud van Nistelrooy, following the sacking of Eric ten Haar.
01:05You can find more reaction and analysis from tonight's game and of course, all the build-up to that big one at Old Trafford on Sunday over on Standard Sport.