“Here it has been a mixed feeling” – Maresca shares honest thoughts on pre-season tour

Enzo Maresca has admitted Chelsea have been unable to prepare for most of the games on their pre-season tour of America.

The Italian is preparing for his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge after he replaced Mauricio Pochettino earlier this summer.

It’s been a mixed bag for Chelsea in America and they have only won one of their four games so far, with the final game against Real Madrid on Tuesday before they fly back to London to face Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Chelsea not able to prepare for games properly

Despite the results, which ultimately don’t matter in pre-season, although you would rather win, there have been signs the players are starting to get to grips with what Maresca is asking of them.

There were always going to be teething issues, and many of the squad are being asked to play in a way they haven’t done before, so it’s going to take time to adapt.

Speaking ahead of the Madrid game Maresca was asked about pre-season and admitted it would have been ideal if the Blues had been able to prepare for the games.

“In this moment, the ideal situation would be to prepare for the games but for most of the games we have been without the preparation,” he told reporters.

“We didn’t prepare the game with the training session like we are used to doing during a normal season. Some of the games, we just prepared with a video or the tactical board. We tried to adapt and I think we had a very good two weeks in Cobham.

“We have one week or 10 days in Cobham when we go back. For me, the real pre-season has been the two weeks at Cobham and the week or 10 days we have at Cobham. Here, it has been a mixed feeling.”