Enzo Maresca jokes Chelsea will call in Rory Delap to join game of throw-ins

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said he will send for Liam Delap’s father Rory if ever he decides to jump aboard the long throw bandwagon.

The tactic has seen a resurgence in the Premier League this season, with the Blues themselves on the receiving end when Brentford nicked a stoppage-time point off them in September following a colossal throw from Kevin Schade.

Top-flight defences have been oddly puzzled by how to effectively counter the chaos caused by balls chucked sometimes as far as their defensive six-yard box – as they were back when Delap senior tormented opponents with his huge reach whilst playing for Stoke between 2008 and 2013.

Maresca said he was not yet ready to throw in his lot with those managers trying to hurl their way up the table but should that change, he knows who to call.

“If we don’t do it it’s probably because I don’t like it,” he said. “But you need to evolve in football. We don’t plan to play long throw-ins but probably one day we will start.

“Ten years ago Liam’s dad was the king of long throw-ins. In case we decide to go for long throw-ins probably we will swap dad with son. Liam can go off and we’ll bring on his dad.”

Former Potters midfielder Delap had been a schoolboy javelin champion and after the club were promoted he became famed for his long and unusually flat throws.

His most notable success came as Tony Pulis’s side beat Arsenal 2-1 in November 2008 with both goals coming from Delap deliveries.

Chelsea’s disciplinary issues look finally to be abating after they emerged from Wednesday’s 5-1 win against Ajax with 11 players on the pitch.

It was the first time in five matches that no red cards had been shown to either players or manager and came after Maresca had insisted he does not rule Stamford Bridge with an iron fist.

That laid-back attitude extends to the canteen at the club’s Cobham training ground where the Italian has not followed the lead of his compatriot Fabio Capello – who famously banned ketchup during his time in charge of England.

“We check the players every day in terms of weight,” said Maresca. “Then we have two or three nutritionists. We try to take care of the players outside the pitch.

“We have breakfast together, lunch together, they can bring dinner home if they want. We try to cover all the meals.

“I didn’t ban anything. The nutritionists are in charge of that. For us in Italy, ketchup is not something very healthy but also you have to adapt to the country where you are.

“If you want to work in Italy you’re probably going to eat more pasta than being in England. If you’re in England you’re going to eat more ketchup than in Italy.”