Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was asked whether he told Robert Sanchez to kick the ball long in the game against Celtic last night.
Maresca endured his first defeat as Chelsea manager in only his second game in charge against Celtic last night, buy luckily it was just a pre-season friendly.
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Even still, Maresca’s side were thrashed 4-1 by their opponents over in the USA, even though the winning side have now played five pre-season games already.
Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was kicking the ball long at times, something that had the press asking questions.
Maresca told Sanchez to kick long
When asked whether kicking it long is something that Maresca told Sanchez to do, he responded:
“Yeah because they were marking us man-to-man; the idea was to try and find some solution in behind but it is something we prepared on the tactical board and didn’t try in the training session. The reason why is because we are trying so many things and we don’t have enough time to try everything. We started just 15 or 20 days ago.
“But when we started the game, after five minutes, we already had two or three chances. And then in the second-half, until the third goal, the team was very good and created chances. We didn’t concede any shots until the 75th minute and then conceded the goal and it was more difficult.
“What was important to realise was the difference between us and them in terms of physical condition. You can see they played already three or four games and they start the season soon. For us, you can see we struggled a bit physically.”
Quotes via Football London.