Enzo Maresca has defended his decision to rotate his squad amid Wayne Rooney’s criticism of the Chelsea boss.The Manchester United legend declared that the Blues squad should ‘question’ their manager’s team selections.Maresca has made repeated changes to his Chelsea team this seasonGettyA whopping seven changes were made to the line-up for the west London outfit’s recent 2-2 draw away at Qarabag in the Champions League.That was the fifth match in a row that as many as seven changes were made to the starting XI.Incredibly, Maresca has made 85 changes so far this season – 16 more than Liverpool in second spot, meanwhile Premier League leaders Arsenal have rotated the third-most players at 67.talkSPORT understands that the Chelsea hierarchy are encouraging Maresca to shuffle up his side, with it expected as part of the club’s sporting model. Chelsea’s owners and sporting directors are aligned that it is a useful way of developing the squad and ensuring a deep pool of options for a long season ahead in which the Blues hope to challenge on all fronts.While the club have no issue with the squad rotations, Rooney believes that the players won’t be happy at their stop-start game time.Are Roo serious?He said on the Wayne Rooney Show: “The players want to play, they want to build relationships.“When you keep chopping and changing then the players won’t be happy. I think that will come back to bite them.“If they are getting results all the time then you can’t question it but if they’re not, there has to be questions asked.”Rooney added: “I think most clubs now have a leadership group and as a group you have to go and question the manager. You hear people talk about ‘player power’ but this isn’t player power.Maresca has publicly defended his decision to rotate his team on a weekly basisGetty“I’d be concerned if the team kept changing. If i was in that [leadership] group I’d be speaking to my team-mates saying ‘Look, i’m not happy with this.'”Following the ex-England international’s comments, Maresca has now challenged his view in his pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Wolves on Saturday – live on talkSPORT.He remarked: “I already said many times that we are in an era where anyone can say what they want. I completely respect [it].“I also said after the Qarabag game that since I joined the club, it is also my view to rotate players. No one complains when you don’t win games; no one disagrees.“When the rotation is Andrey Santos, Brazil international, Jorrel Hato, Netherlands international, Estevao, Brazil international – it’s not about rotation.“They are good, they are talented, they are young and when they are young, you have to give them the chances to make some mistakes to be better. The same happened in the past with Josh Acheampong.No team has made more changes to their side this season than Chelsea [85]Getty“But I understand that when you don’t win games, the problem is the rotation, or different things.”Maresca continued: “I think in this moment, football is a bit different compared to years ago in terms of physicality and intensity.“For me personally, it’s impossible to play with the same players 65 games a season, Champions League, Premier League.“Football was different years ago. I played for 20 years – it was not as physical and now it’s changed. You need to rotate.“This is my personal view, and I think you need to do that if you want to see a season like a marathon.“Then, when you are in February and March, when it’s the last sprint, you probably have to think in a different way, but at the moment, you have to think like a long race.”