Enzo Maresca has revealed why he feels Chelsea struggled to cope with Newcastle’s press in their defeat at St James’ Park.
The Blues crashed out of the Carabao Cup thanks to a 2-0 defeat as the Magpies got retribution from their defeat at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
Chelsea weren’t at the races and got what they deserved from their performance with Newcastle scoring two goals in three first half minutes through Alexander Isak and an Axel Disasi own goal, with the defending more than questionable on both occasions.
Maresca on why Chelsea struggled with Newcastle’s press
Maresca once again made 11 changes as has become the norm in cup competitions so far, but this was the toughest opposition the so called “B” team have come up against.
Chelsea weren’t at the races and were again defensively sloppy, although they did create a few good opportunities but were let down by their finishing.
Maresca feels the Blues lost the game because of a ten minute period where they lost control, but truth be told Newcastle were the much better side on the night.
Chelsea struggled to deal with their press, something they coped with very well in the league game last weekend and speaking after the game Maresca explained why he thought that was.
“We need to get better at many things but we didn’t concede any chances from the press two days ago against them and the reason why was because we contact not with the first line,” he told his post match press conference.
“The other day was Moi [Caicedo] and Romeo [Lavia] and today was Enzo [Fernandez], Renato [Veiga] and Marc [Cucurella] and we always tried to contact with the second line.
“The reason why is because we knew they are very aggressive. We did very well two days ago. I think we did very well apart from the goals we conceded but for sure, we have many things we can do better.”
Chelsea will need to pick themselves up quickly as they have another huge game at Old Trafford against Manchester United on Sunday as they look for a first win at the famous ground since 2013.