Maresca on Chelsea latest ahead of FA Cup clash with Morecambe
10/01/2025
Cobham training centre, Surrey, UK
10/01/2025
Cobham training centre, Surrey, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Right, good afternoon, we will take the usual format today, beginning with a broadcast section
00:29and then a daily newspaper section and we will begin with Jeremy Langdon and Sky Sports News.
00:45Yeah, they are both available and they can get some news for tomorrow game and then the rest,
00:52no, unless Benoit Badiachili and Wes Fofana in Keenan, the rest, they are all available.
01:07No, no, no, it's still too early. The plan for him is to try to
01:15put him in condition to get some minutes in the future, not now, he needs to,
01:20he had some injury when he was there, so for him now it's important to
01:24arrive here, to adapt a little bit to English weather, English football and then from there
01:31we start to use him. You were telling us recently that Wesley Fofana will be out for the season,
01:36but Wesley has been saying this week on social media that no, I'll be back in four to six weeks,
01:41so what's going on? No, we speak the same language in terms of we communicate
01:50between each other in English and in French, so it has been quite clear. I spoke with Wes,
01:57the 12, 16 weeks that the club mentioned is the situation, Wes is thinking that he can
02:11recover sooner than that. We are all happy if Wes recovers and be able for tomorrow,
02:17but we're going to see, so there is not any problem. I just told you what the medical staff
02:25said to me, that he's around 12, 16 weeks, Wes is thinking that he can recover earlier than that,
02:32we are all happy if Wes is back as soon as possible. The worst injury means you're being
02:38linked with a replacement defender in Mark Gay, there's a lot of speculation about him coming
02:43back to Chelsea, do you want Mark Gay back here? The only thing I can say, Mark Gay is a Palace
02:48player, I like Mark for sure, but he's not our player, but I like also the central defender we
02:56have. I also like different kinds of central defenders, that they are in Italy, Spain,
03:01in France, but that doesn't mean that we are going to buy a player, so it's just a normal
03:08situation I think when you are injured, a central defender injury, that the speculation is there,
03:14but at the same time there is nothing there.
03:21Yeah, this is exactly the same, unfortunately I have to give you the same answer,
03:27Trev is a good player, but in this moment he's a Palace player, so we'll see.
03:31We're wondering about the futures of some of your players who look like they
03:35only have a minor place in your plans this weekend, like Ben Chilwell
03:40and Keenan Dewsbury-Cawdell, are they going to play at all in this game against Walker?
03:46Keenan Dewsbury-Cawdell unfortunately is injured, as I said at the beginning,
03:50so he won't be able to play for some minutes. Chilwell is, I think for him in this moment,
03:57thinking also that probably he's going to leave, it's better to avoid to use him,
04:02to avoid that kind of situation, injury or these kind of things,
04:06so the plan is not to use Ben tomorrow.
04:10Just on this game with Morecambe, it's the third round of the FA Cup,
04:13it's a special weekend in the English football calendar,
04:17how important is the FA Cup to you this season,
04:19given the fact you're ten points off the lead in the Premier League?
04:22Yeah, no, no, the FA Cup for sure is very important,
04:26but not because we have ten points from the top of the league,
04:31it's important because it's another competition.
04:34Since we started, we are trying to do our best in all the competition,
04:38with the Premier League, Conference, Carabao,
04:40that unfortunately we lost against Newcastle,
04:43and we're going to try to do the same in the FA Cup.
04:46And how much do you know about Morecambe?
04:48Now I know quite many things,
04:53because I watch many games about them, to be ready for tomorrow.
04:58Mesut?
04:59Hi, I just wanted to ask a bit more about Dewsbury-Cawdell,
05:01do you think he has a future at Chelsea still,
05:03or do you think maybe it's better for him to play minutes somewhere else?
05:07No, no, in this moment Keenan is our player,
05:10and for sure he has a future for us, with us.
05:14So you're not encouraging the club to maybe send him on loan
05:17to give him some more minutes somewhere else?
05:19No, no, no, also because when you want to sell players,
05:24or send players on loan, or you want to bring players,
05:27it has to be from all the sides, from the player, the club, the manager,
05:32so it's not just about what they want,
05:34it's just to make a decision all together,
05:37but in this moment there is no plan for Keenan.
05:40Do you think Keenan is one of those players as well
05:41that will fight for his future at Chelsea,
05:43that will try to push his way back into the first team?
05:48For sure he has to do that, no doubt,
05:50and I know Keenan quite well, and he is going to do that.
05:54Rob?
05:55Hi there, how much say do you personally have over a decision
06:00like whether to bring the player back from loan?
06:04Is that something that would just be up to you,
06:06or do the sporting directors get involved?
06:08How would a decision like that be made?
06:10No, since we started it's the same concept,
06:12it's a decision that we take all together.
06:14Me, the sport director, the owners that at the end are there also to decide with us,
06:21so it's a decision that we take all together.
06:24Now that you've been here six months,
06:26has your role in the recruitment changed at all
06:32now that you've got a better idea of the club and the squad and what's needed?
06:35How much is your voice heard in recruitment decisions?
06:40At the end I'm the one that I'm working every day with the players,
06:43so how can I train with the players if there is no voice from the manager?
06:48As I said, it's not the only manager that decides,
06:51it's the managers, the sport director, the owners,
06:53it's a decision that we take all together.
06:56Simon?
06:58Is Cesare in the squad tomorrow,
07:01or is he being left out because there's a lot of talk he's about to go to elsewhere?
07:09Yes, Cesare won't be on the squad,
07:11and it's more or less the same situation as Ben Chilwell,
07:15for him probably in this moment the idea is not to allow him to play some minutes,
07:21in case there is any opportunity for him to go and play,
07:24probably in this moment it's the best thing for him.
07:28Do you think it's more likely to be a permanent sale rather than a loan?
07:33I don't know, the only thing I can say is that Cesare didn't get minutes with us,
07:39not because he's not good,
07:41on the other side he's a good player,
07:43the thing is that in the middle we have Caicedo, Romeo,
07:47Lavia, that they are for me in the same position,
07:51and Cesare showed how good he is and how good he can be in the conference,
07:55he played all the games and he was very good playing as a six,
07:58as an older midfielder,
08:00physicality strong, good on the air, he's a good player,
08:02but we have in that position already many good players,
08:07so unfortunately he didn't get the minutes.
08:09Just a general question,
08:12more related to the Premier League and recent events,
08:15Chelsea have started to concede a lot of late goals,
08:19do you know, have you figured out why this is?
08:22Is it fatigue, is it players just switching off, not doing their jobs?
08:27No, I don't think it's the players that switch off, absolutely,
08:30I think that during a season you have moments that you score a goal at the end,
08:34and you have moments that you concede a goal at the end,
08:37like you have moments that you score a goal from set-pieces,
08:40and you have moments that you concede a goal from set-pieces,
08:43so I guess that it's just a moment,
08:46and hopefully we can avoid that
08:48and we can start to win some games in the last minutes,
08:50that it's a good feeling also for us on the bench to be happy
08:55and to celebrate the last minute of the game.
08:59And we'll finish this section with Davide.
09:02Results-wise, in your most complicated moment,
09:07what kind of reaction have you seen from your players?
09:10No, the reaction is not any weird reaction or strange reaction.
09:17Probably for us to be in some moment of the season second,
09:22close to the first,
09:23people, as I said already many times,
09:26thought that we were not going to have this kind of moment,
09:31but it's not real.
09:34I think in this moment the only team that,
09:37since they start, they are doing and winning,
09:40and the game is Liverpool,
09:41unless then we all have some moments that we struggle with the results,
09:44but it's part of the season,
09:47and also you have to analyse a little bit the games, the performance.
09:51The last game against Palace, I think the team was very good,
09:54so it's just a matter of moment,
09:56and hopefully we can win a game soon and come back with three points.
10:01Is there anything new you've learned about your players at this moment?
10:05For sure the reaction is a good one,
10:09in terms of every time,
10:12even the last game against Palace that we drew,
10:16the mood was not the best one in the changing room
10:18and inside the pitch at the final whistle,
10:22and the reason why is because probably they have the desire to win all the games,
10:28so this is probably something very good.
10:31And also finally for me,
10:32the FA Cup is a competition so different from Coppa Italia,
10:35for example, in terms of the charm,
10:37nobody really cares about Coppa Italia,
10:39everybody seems to care about the FA Cup.
10:41In your opinion, what makes the difference,
10:43what makes this competition so important?
10:47Probably the culture, the history of this competition,
10:50the oldest one, it's very nice,
10:53and as you said it's not only in Italy, also in Spain,
10:56they care about the competition,
11:01but not like in England, like in the FA Cup.