Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has said that he is trying to stamp out bad habits from last season under Mauricio Pochettino.
Maresca saw his side lose 2-1 against Real Madrid last night after some defensive vulnerabilities and mistakes but also, his defensive line just playing too high and the team not defending collectively well enough as a full unit.
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Maresca’s Chelsea conceded a lot of goals during this pre-season, including 8 alone against just Celtic and Manchester City. But Maresca believes this is not yet his Chelsea team and they are suffering from how they played and defended under Pochettino last season, where the defence was certainly a big issue.
Trying to de-Poch
Enzo Maresca says he is still trying to get the Mauricio Pochettino out of his Chelsea players as he does not want his defenders playing such a risky high line. #CFC head coach told us in Charlotte: "We are not working on defensive lines so high. It's a habit from last year."
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) August 7, 2024
More from Maresca on trying to de-Poch his Chelsea team: "It's a problem we are trying to solve since day one. One of my first meetings with the squad was about the amount of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line very high. It's something we are trying to work on."
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) August 7, 2024
As you can see above from reporter Kieran Gill, Maresca is trying to ‘de-Poch’ his team!
Maresca said: “We are not working on defensive lines so high. It’s a habit from last year.
“It’s a problem we are trying to solve since day one. One of my first meetings with the squad was about the amount of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line very high. It’s something we are trying to work on.”
Nobody is expecting to see the results of Maresca’s coaching at this stage, there is still another pre-season friendly to be played as well. I think we can expect to see the transition into Maresca’s style of play, if we are going to see it, around two months in to the new season. The question is though, can Chelsea scrape enough good results to be in a good position in the league by the time that happens?
