Maresca on Chelsea's 6 - 2 Wolves win
25/08/2024
Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, U.K.
25/08/2024
Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, U.K.
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SportsTranscript
00:00What did you say to your players at halftime?
00:25I just said, in a delicate way, that we need to be a little bit more accurate.
00:31I think in the first half, we started the first 10-15 minutes very good.
00:35We scored a goal and we had two, three more chances, clear chances with Noni.
00:40Then we started to lose easy ball.
00:43When you lose easy ball, you concede a counter-attacker, you concede set-pieces, you lose confidence.
00:50This already happened the other day against Servette, that we lose easy ball.
00:56I just said that to play in the way we want to play, we need to be a little bit more accurate.
01:02We can lose the ball if the opposite, they press us very intense, but we cannot lose
01:07the ball just giving away for wrong decision.
01:12So I think the difference between first half and second half was just about being a bit
01:18more accurate.
01:19Noni, by the way, you can probably tell he annoyed a few Wolves fans with what he said
01:26on social media overnight, but were you happy with how he responded and dealt with being
01:31targeted with boos?
01:35To be honest, I didn't know, they just mentioned me now, but I didn't know before the game
01:39about Noni's social post.
01:46I can judge Noni's performance, that has been fantastic, not only second half, even
01:51first half.
01:52As I said, the first 15 minutes, he was always 1v1 creating something.
01:58Since day one, I said that he's the kind of winger that I really like, he's working very
02:02good with us, but the best thing for me today from Noni was not the hat-trick, was the way
02:07he defended 90 minutes, a counter-attacker there, and that showed the right mentality
02:13that I'm demanding from the players.
02:18Was for Noni, was for Cristian Cunco, that he played five minutes and was pressing everyone,
02:22Joao Felix did the same, so if we want to build something important, I think first of
02:27all you need the right mentality, and from all of them it was very good.
02:31Will you have to remind your players to not put stupid stuff on social media, will you
02:44have to have a conversation, just to remind your players to be careful?
02:52I'm a kind of person that I like trust people, and thinking that people they are mature enough
03:00to know what is correct and what is not correct.
03:04So in this case I think Noni is mature enough to understand that if what he did was correct
03:12or not correct.
03:13Is there a better young player in the Premier League when he's on form like that?
03:30You know I know Cole from already four or five years, I had him one entire season at
03:35City with the second team, then with the first team, so I know him very good.
03:41He's a special player, he's a special guy, a special person, and I'm not surprised at
03:47all about the goal he scored last year, the goal he scored today, the assist, because
03:52Cole is a top player.
03:54Can I just check on Romeo Lavia as well?
03:58Yeah, Romeo had an arm string problem in rotation, we'll see hopefully it's not long, but these
04:05kind of things at the end always require some days, a week, we'll see.
04:11What do you think this win today will do for your team's confidence?
04:16It's always good to win games, I think we already won one game the other day in the
04:23Conference League so they are two in a row, hopefully we can build some momentum from
04:28there to continue to improve.
04:30But I said many times that for us the target in this moment is to see the way we improve,
04:38to improve players.
04:39They are just asking me now about different things but I said that no-one from the club
04:44asked me to compete for the Premier League or to compete for a Champions League spot,
04:50they just asked me to improve the players, to improve the team, and also I think in this
04:55moment the target is a little bit to solve the economic problem in terms of the reason
05:02why we need to sell players and we need to do some things.
05:05So the main target in this moment is that we solve these kinds of problems and then
05:10from there we try to do our best and we see where we arrive.
05:14What was the thinking behind taking Madrid off?
05:20Say again, sorry.
05:22Because I was not happy.
05:26Because I think we can, in some moment we can manage better some situation.
05:32He was working very good off the ball, very hard, and I think that was very good.
05:36And then in terms of on the ball, I just expect a bit more quality from Misha.
05:44But he did, for me, he had some good moment the other day, he had some good moment today
05:49and the reason why was just to change and give Pedro some minutes.
05:55Before Col Favre's goal, Sanchez's pass, as soon as the goal was scored, a lot of players
06:03who were close to Sanchez, you know, mobbed him and celebrated.
06:07I know you talked about what you want in terms of distribution from the goalkeeper, so how
06:11pleasing was that?
06:13No, no.
06:14But I said many times, we start less, one month and a half ago, but I said many times
06:23when there is space in behind, we need to attack in behind.
06:27Like they were all in our side, so we try to attack in behind.
06:31But when they sit back, it's difficult because there is no space in behind.
06:34So we need more passes, more process.
06:38But as I said, we are in a moment where we start less than two months ago, there are
06:43many things that the players are still learning.
06:46Sometimes we can play quicker, sometimes we can play slowly, but this is just with timing
06:50that we're going to improve.
06:53You said a little bit earlier about the club not giving you expectations of what to achieve.
06:58What is it that you actually want to achieve this season with the players, other than just
07:03general improvement?
07:04I want to see my team playing the way we want to play, compete every game, that this is
07:10the most important thing.
07:11A team that on the ball has a clear idea of what they want, off the ball a very aggressive
07:17team.
07:18I think today for some moment we start to see our team, in terms of we were pressing.
07:25In terms of squad, try to improve the players, I feel very lucky, I feel very happy.
07:30I said since day one that I think the squad is very good.
07:35And I feel lucky because there are many players that are versatile, they can play in different
07:39positions.
07:40That is something that I really like.
07:44Then we see where we arrive, but the most important thing is to try to be better game
07:49after game.
07:50Is it lucky that the club don't ask you to win the Champions League or get a Champions
07:56League position?
07:57No, I feel lucky because of the squad, because of the players.
08:04I don't feel lucky because the club didn't ask me to win the Premier League or to compete
08:09for the Champions League spot.
08:11Also because I think that if you think about us, about a team that three years ago won
08:18the Champions League, okay.
08:19But also you have to think that in the last two years we finished 12th, we finished 6th,
08:23so now suddenly we want to win the Premier League or compete for the Champions League
08:27spot.
08:28That is not reality.
08:29So I think we can build something important through the time, month, year and we can arrive
08:35again to compete for that competition.
08:38So that was the expectation, the margin between winning the league and where you finished
08:43was so large that it was impossible to feel like that?
08:48I think you need the process, it's not that you can suddenly start to compete with this
08:53kind of team.
08:54I said that they are always there, I said many times.
08:57I think for me the difference between us and Arsenal and City in this moment is that City
09:03is working with the same manager eight, nine years, Arsenal is working with the same manager
09:07four, five years and Chelsea is working with the same manager less than two months.
09:11So this is the big difference for me between us and them in this moment.