Maresca confident of Chelsea success this season as they host Manchester City at Stamford Bridge
Maresca confident of Chelsea success this season as they host Manchester City at Stamford Bridge
16/08/2024
Cobham training centre, Surrey, UK
16/08/2024
Cobham training centre, Surrey, UK
Transcript
00:00We're starting the bad way, mate. Sorry. Tom said to me two o'clock, and I said, no, we
00:15can't go out while it's possible. My fault, my fault, my fault.
00:26Afternoon, everybody. We'll do three sections today, a broadcast section, a dailies and
00:33a short Sundays at the end. Paul, do you want to get a sound away?
00:37Hi, Enzo. Enzo, ahead of your first Premier League game in charge here, is the team where
00:43you want it to be, and what would success look like for Chelsea this season?
00:49Yeah, for sure, we are doing well since day one. We are improving things. Now, for sure,
00:58we started just one month ago, so it's too early to see the team in the way I would like
01:04to see. But in the same moment, I'm quite happy because in terms of process, I think
01:09the team is ahead where I expected, my expectation, so that's important. But yeah, for me, the
01:18good feeling is that game after game and day after day, I can see that the team is improving.
01:24In this moment, it's the most important thing.
01:26And the success part, what would be a good season?
01:30For me, a good season means that I can see game after game, month after month, a team
01:35that is improving. And for sure, with timing, we are going to close a little bit the gap
01:42between us and the teams that are ahead of us in this moment.
01:47What players are you missing for the game on Sunday?
01:50In terms of injury? No, no, we have just one injury, that is Rhys and James. The rest,
01:57they are all fit and they are going to be, all of them, available.
02:01Will Conor Dalloway be involved on Sunday?
02:04No, Conor is back. He is training in this moment a little bit apart. He is doing some
02:09medical tests and some training and he won't be involved for this game, also because you
02:17know better than me, in this moment he is trying to find a solution with the club, so
02:22we'll see what happens.
02:24What happens next? How difficult a situation is that to have a player so close to the ground
02:30and suddenly back at the training ground?
02:33Listen, I said already many times since we started, unfortunately these kind of things
02:37happen every summer. Sometimes at Chelsea, sometimes at Liverpool, City, Arsenal, Bournemouth,
02:43Newcastle. All the clubs during the summer, they have some problems, unfortunately, because
02:49players that they want to leave, clubs that they want players to leave, so it always can
02:53happen that you have some kind of problems. But at the end, every time finish with all
02:57of them happy. So hopefully for Conor in this moment, that his situation is going to finish
03:04where the player, the club, the manager, all the people involved, they are going to be
03:08happy.
03:09In terms of that kind of forward player, do you still feel that you need that forward
03:20player? Do you feel that you are close to bringing in a forward there?
03:23No, the only thing I can say is that, I have to say always the same, I know that, but they
03:30are not our players, so it's not correct I think to talk about Napoli players or about
03:36Atletico Madrid players. In this moment, the club knows exactly what I think in terms
03:42of what we need in case we need to do something and hopefully before we finish the window
03:48transfer, we can bring some players.
03:52Just a final one for you on Manchester City coming to Stamford Bridge, what a first game
03:57that is. Does it give you any sort of advantage knowing that Guardiola and his methods?
04:04No, absolutely, because I said many times, after eight, nine years together, you can
04:09do so many different things. Pep is not a manager that is always doing the same, he
04:14is always changing and with us we will be exactly the same, so it will be a tough game
04:20but as you said, exciting, start the Premier League, start against the champions and we'll
04:24see.
04:26Just on that City game on Sunday, how big an opportunity is it for your Chelsea side
04:33to make a statement at the start of the season?
04:36It's always a good moment, it's always an opportunity to show ourselves, for sure against
04:42the champions, but more than against the champions, it's against a club that they are working
04:49with the same manager in the last eight, nine years and this is a huge advantage. The same
04:54can happen with some different clubs, for instance, like Arsenal, but we're going to
05:00try to use all our games to try to win games and to make us happy and also the fans.
05:07The last five Chelsea managers haven't won that opening game, so it's not easy to change that.
05:13So in the worst scenario it will be six.
05:15No, no, no.
05:16No, no, no, yeah, no, no, no, we're going to try to do our best to win games. I said
05:23already since we started many times, for me, this is my personal opinion, the big difference
05:29in this moment between us and other teams that in this moment they are dominating English
05:35football, it's just a matter of time in terms of there are clubs that they work with the
05:41same manager five years, nine years, eight years and here we work with the same manager
05:46one month. So the huge difference is only about that for me. For sure with timing we're going
05:51to close the gap and hopefully it can happen very soon.
06:06Yes, sometimes it sounds like an excuse because every manager is talking about timing. I know
06:11that timing in football is difficult, but at the end I think in our case because of
06:17the process, because of the idea, I'm 100% sure that this team is getting better game
06:22after game and with timing we're going to close the gap with in this moment City, Arsenal,
06:27these kind of clubs that they are dominating in English football.
06:32You talk about time and you talk about your team improving as they go along. Do you think
06:39you have to ask the fans to be a little bit patient at the start?
06:44For sure we need their support in any case because when you are inside the pitch and
06:51you can hear your fans that they are behind the team it's always a big support. It's like
06:56we said many times, it's like 12 players. So for sure if they support us and they be
07:01patient we're going to pay back I think you say. We're going to pay back with performance
07:08and with results.
07:10I suppose in football and especially here you don't always get the time that ideally
07:14you would like. So how important is it to get off to a really good start?
07:19A good start is always important for us as a Chelsea or for a different club. So we are
07:24looking for a good start for sure 100 per cent. But I'm quite confident and relaxed
07:32in terms of time because I can see the team is improving and it's the only thing that
07:41I can control. I can control just the team, I cannot control what the people or people
07:48around the club think. I can just control my team, my players, improve them, improve
07:53the team and this is for me the main target.
07:56How have you found it since you've got here? You talk about the team and your players and
08:00we all know you've got a fairly big squad of players here. How difficult is it to manage that?
08:08We have been 20 days I think almost in America with 28, 29 players so it's been quite good
08:15in terms of managing the squad. Now we are the guys that are not involved in our squad,
08:20they are training apart so it's quite...
08:23Can that be difficult then?
08:25At the moment it's not difficult as I said. Also because if I start to think that I have
08:3243 players, probably it's not a good thing. I just finished the session now and I'm already
08:39thinking about tomorrow's session. It's the only thing I like to do, I like to control
08:44because then if you start to think about 43 players, manager, no time, I think it's
08:50not worth it.
08:53Do you think before the end of the month you're going to have to get rid of players, you're
08:57going to have to leave Guardiola or whatever? Maybe 10 players maybe to trim down the squad?
09:03This question is for Paul and Laurence that they are there trying to find solutions for
09:10these kind of players. I'm not the guy in charge to find solutions for long players
09:17otherwise they have to pay me double.
09:20Hi Enzo, nice to meet you and welcome. As a manager you have to get a balance between
09:28playing to your players' strengths but also implementing your own philosophy. How hard
09:33is it to find that balance?
09:36Not hard because one of the reasons why I accept Chelsea for sure is because it's one
09:45of the biggest clubs in the world but also because for me the squad is very good. I had
09:50the opportunity to analyse the squad when we faced them in FA Cup and I had the opportunity
09:55to analyse deeply the squad when I had the first contact with the club. So the squad
10:02for me is full of talent, it's a very good squad and they are perfect in the way I like
10:08to play. So this is also one of the reasons why I'm here is because I'm convinced that
10:13the players we have, they are already good, they can be even better improving and I'm
10:20quite confident on that.
10:22I know that you're very open about your tactics and I know you've spoken to the press and
10:26done videos about the way you like to play. Would you say that you're quite rigid then?
10:31I don't mean that in a negative way but are you able to be flexible and adaptable or do
10:37you think you want to play the way you want to play? Which side is that for you?
10:42No, probably from outside it's more difficult to recognise but since we started we play
10:49on the ball, when we have the ball already in two different ways. For the first time
10:54against Inter we play completely in a different way compared to the previous friendly game
10:59and off the ball we already press in six friendly games in four different ways. So we try to
11:05adapt, it depends on how the other team press us or attack us, we try to adapt and find
11:11a solution. But we are not going to play always in one way. For instance, Malo is playing
11:17right back, left back, inside, against Sid in the friendly game he was higher, Christo
11:22was playing as a nine and then pocket and then winger. We try to put the players in
11:29positions where they can give their best.
11:33Just a quick one, I think you were at Man City when Haaland came, how much of the City's
11:44game has to change and how much does Chelsea's game have to change if you have maybe Christo
11:50from Coco playing as a nine or Nicholas Jackson playing as a nine or Martini playing as a
11:55nine?
11:56For sure if you have Nicholas playing as a nine or Christo that means that you are looking
12:02for something different. You cannot ask the same two completely different players. In
12:08terms of Haaland I think they tried to adapt when Haaland arrived a little bit but also
12:15Haaland was completely open-minded to adapt himself to the way City was playing.
12:21And then just finally on his game, the injury, is it the same injury from last season?
12:29That's a fantastic question, I don't know. I know that it was injury but he had different
12:34problems, I don't know now if it's exactly the same to be honest, I don't know.
12:39Chelsea had so many issues with injuries last season, players missing a huge quarter of
12:46the season, how have you found the physical condition and match readiness of the squad
12:52given how many of them have really, really broken up?
12:59Depends a little bit also the injury because sometimes when it's, for instance, it's a
13:03kick, it's not because the training is not good, it's because you are unlucky, kick and
13:09you got injured. So it depends a little bit the kind of injury. The only thing I can say,
13:13I don't know how it was last year, I was not here so it's not my duty or my job to judge.
13:19The only thing I can say is that in one month, 35 days that we start, we had just one injury
13:25problem, that is Rhys. Unfortunately he got injured just two, three minutes before we
13:31changed him, otherwise we avoid that but it happened and this is the only thing I can say.
13:37Sometimes it depends, the injury can be for different way but in this moment we are managing
13:44the situation quite good, we are trying also to manage players. For instance the other
13:49day against Inter, Christo was not playing from the start, the reason why is because
13:53he played so many minutes already in pre-season compared to last year. The same was Wes, that
13:58he didn't play the previous game but he played against Inter. So we are trying to manage
14:03also this kind of situation in terms of injury.
14:17No, to be honest. We had a meeting with the medical, I explained them the way I like to
14:22work. I have all the complete picture from last year in terms of injury but because I
14:29was not here, I'm not sitting and judging why. It's a new year so we sat together, I
14:37explained the way we work and the way we like to manage players and then what happened last
14:43year, I don't know.
14:53There have been a lot of Italian managers here at Chelsea and you are following them
15:00in their process. I'm wondering if you reached out to any of them for advice?
15:07Yeah, I spoke with Claudio Ranieri and the reason why was also because I spoke with him
15:13before I started the season with Leicester. We won so when I signed to Chelsea I called
15:19him immediately just to see if he's the same one. And then I spoke with Carlo Ancelotti
15:24when we played against Madrid for a while. Yeah, with both of them. Both of them were
15:31talking about the club, fantastic, about their experience here. Fantastic, so yeah.
15:37What does it mean for you to have the chance to leave Chelsea and start your family career
15:42as a manager?
15:43It's a good opportunity, I feel completely relaxed. When I met the club I was, as I said,
15:52completely sure, especially because of the squad. I was anxious because it's a huge club
16:01but at the same time I was relaxed because I was just meeting with them, everything was
16:10fine and then I met them three or four times before we took the final decision. Meeting
16:18after meeting was always a better feeling.
16:23How is Pedro Neto? Is he ready to start?
16:26Yeah, physical condition is good. The only problem that we have with Pedro is that he's
16:34here in the last two or three days so he needs a little bit to understand the way we want
16:38to play. But for sure he's fit, for sure he will be with us. We see from the start on
16:42the bench, we see that. But he's completely fit.