Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has been speaking after his side’s first pre-season win of the new campaign over night, beating Club America 3-0.
So far Chelsea have drawn with Wrexham and lost to Celtic, so it was great to get a win on the board and put in a much better performance.
Sources: Chelsea ‘still there’ for Nico Williams, chasing Desire Doue, and pondering offer to sign Federico Chiesa!
Maresca has only been in place for weeks and has explained previously how it is going to take some time to get his messages and style of play across, but he certainly saw improvements last night.
Chelsea played a very high defensive line against Celtic, and Maresca has described that as ‘suicide’ in his post-match comments after the Club America win.
Maresca improved defensive mistakes
“What I didn’t like against Celtic was the habit we have defensively. For instance, to hold the line very high when there is no pressure on the ball. This is suicide. You cannot hold the line very high when there is no pressure on the ball.
“We are talking, we are working. It’s a habit from years ago. I don’t know. There are things that we need to improve defensively but the way we pressed against Celtic, going man-to-man against a team that is ready to start the championship, we had to be brave every time.”
Chelsea’s defensive was also playing very wide against Celtic, with the centre backs basically like full backs. And last night they were much more narrow which helped Chelsea keep more compact out of possession.
Quotes via Football London.
