Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca previews Chelsea's cup trip to Newcastle
29/10/2024
Chelsea Training Ground, Cobham, UK
29/10/2024
Chelsea Training Ground, Cobham, UK
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00:00Jürgen, do you want to get us started?
00:02How are you?
00:04I'm good, thank you. I just wanted to start off on the team,
00:07you've been a big change over the last couple of days.
00:10No, not any injury.
00:13So everything is fine.
00:15That's good to hear.
00:17I wanted to ask around Jadon Fanshawe,
00:19he's obviously not played, maybe not been able to bench one of the last two fixtures.
00:23Do you think this game could be an opportunity for him?
00:26And I guess how do you see his future at the club?
00:29It seemed like he was in great contention for choice when he first started
00:33and he may have fallen out of choice in the last couple of games.
00:36Yeah, Jadon is doing well since he arrived with us.
00:40For sure players, they cannot maintain the same level for all season
00:46because the amount of the games is huge.
00:50So the last two games he didn't play, not for any different reason,
00:55just for technical decisions, tactical decisions.
00:58No more than that.
01:00For sure, because of the amount of games, he's going to play many games
01:05and the only thing he has to do is continue to work hard
01:08and when we give him a chance, just to take it.
01:11Lovely.
01:13We spoke a lot about Cole Palmer over the last couple of days.
01:16His past during that game has been quite viral on the internet.
01:21I just want to ask around, just him as a player at the club,
01:24the influence he has amongst the team
01:26and how pleased you are with his progress so far this season?
01:30Very pleased, especially because I can see him enjoying.
01:34I always said that for the players it's the most important thing
01:38that they can enjoy playing football.
01:42So this is the first thing and then you can see that this continues to improve
01:48no matter in which position he's playing.
01:51The other day he was playing in a different position,
01:54in a different part of the pitch, but he did fantastic.
01:58So again, more or less it's similar to Jadon.
02:03They have to work hard and enjoy because they decide to be a football player,
02:09to be happy, to enjoy that moment.
02:12So they have just to continue on that.
02:14I just want to ask around Reece Jones,
02:17just how influential he is on the pitch.
02:20Just how pleased are you with him with time?
02:23I know you said you want to manage minutes with him for the rest of the season,
02:26but just how integral is he to your squad and your development going forward?
02:30He played two Premier League games in a row with us,
02:34Liverpool and Newcastle the other day.
02:37I think in both games he was very good.
02:40It didn't surprise me because I know how good he is
02:44and how important he is for us, for his teammates, for the club.
02:48So the only thing we want is to keep him fit
02:51and this is the main target for him.
02:56You've said a few times that you don't believe Chelsea are ready yet
03:00to challenge Liverpool, City, Arsenal and the top three in last year's top three.
03:06That would mean there's only one Champions League place
03:10that you think Chelsea are able to go for.
03:12Does that put a lot of pressure on the players for them to believe
03:15that there's only one top four spot that's within their reach?
03:25I already said that the club never mentioned me about top four.
03:29Since I met the club the first time they always mentioned me
03:33that the target, the idea was to build something important
03:38for the next four or five years.
03:40For sure we work every day to reach something important
03:46and we're going to try until the end to do our best.
03:50Then if there could be a pressure for the players,
03:54I don't think so, I don't think so to be honest.
03:58Probably if you go game by game you also can see yourself
04:06where you are in that moment and I think this can help a lot
04:11because if you start to think about top four or top six
04:16you are already thinking about May, June and for me it's too far
04:21and the same thing I think is for the players.
04:23So now we are where we are, we're going to continue to try
04:28to improve things, that is the most important thing
04:31and then at the end we'll see.
04:33Might it be time to rethink how close you are in terms of your progress
04:37to that top three given how well the team competed against Liverpool
04:43and they were probably a better team I think a lot of people think
04:46for a lot of that match.
04:47Do you think it might be time to rethink how close you are
04:51to challenging that top three?
04:53No, I still think the same.
04:55First of all because I think this team can improve many, many things.
04:59We can do many things better.
05:01I said we can defend better, we can attack better,
05:04we can manage better the game.
05:05The last 20 minutes against Newcastle we didn't manage in the right way
05:09and this is also a learning process for these kind of things
05:14so we need to improve how to play different kind of games,
05:17high pressing, teams that they sit back.
05:19So this is the reason why I said we are still far from that club
05:23and also because two of those three clubs,
05:28they work with the same manager, same idea for five, nine, eight years.
05:35Hi Enzo, there have been a record number of comebacks
05:37in the Premier League this season.
05:39Teams coming from two goals down to draw or win.
05:42I wanted to get your thoughts on why that might be.
05:45Is there something particular about Premier League games
05:48that make them quite difficult to control?
05:50Probably it's the reason why people are so in love with the Premier League.
05:54Probably because you're from England,
05:57you don't realise how abroad the Premier League is.
06:02And one of the reasons why is because the game never finishes.
06:06In different countries, I don't know,
06:09in my country for instance, if you are 2-0 up the last five minutes,
06:14you can have five, six players that fall down 20 seconds, half an hour.
06:18So the game, it's difficult to come back.
06:22In England, it's a different culture
06:24and probably it's the reason why it's so nice, so beautiful.
06:27I wanted to ask about Wesley as well.
06:29He seems to be in a bit of discomfort with his knee against Newcastle,
06:33where it's strapped up.
06:34Is that something that he's just going to have to manage long-term
06:37in terms of being able to play games?
06:40He had a bad movement in the first half, very bad.
06:46But he's a fighter.
06:48He was there probably with pain, playing with pain.
06:52I said in one of my press conferences,
06:55the last press conference, that I really love Wes
06:58because it's not easy after one year out, more than one year out,
07:02to come back and be a fighter in the way he is.
07:05And now he's also fighting with pain.
07:07And when you have that kind of injury,
07:10probably you're going to feel pain for the rest of your career.
07:15Unfortunately, it's like this.
07:17But he finished well.
07:19He looks okay.
07:21And this is the most important thing.
07:23He seems to have a good partnership with Levi as well.
07:25They complement each other quite well in defence.
07:27Yeah, absolutely.
07:29Also, I think when he played against West Ham away,
07:33he played as a full-back with the tossing, with Levi.
07:37I think in general, all of them, even Benoit,
07:41I think against Liverpool he was very good.
07:43Panathinaikos, he was very good.
07:45So they are doing all well.
07:50Hello.
07:51I wanted to ask about Jadon Sancho.
07:53We've only seen him play on the left wing so far.
07:56But is there a chance for him to perhaps play on the right in some games?
08:00Because we saw him do that at Dortmund and Manchester United.
08:03Yeah, for sure. He can do that. Yeah, no doubt.
08:06Okay, and just on tomorrow's team,
08:09you've made 11 changes for a couple of games for the cup competitions.
08:14Do you have to be a bit careful with tomorrow night
08:16coming up against a quality opposition in Newcastle
08:19that you don't perhaps change too much?
08:21I'm always worried.
08:23I'm always concerned about the other team.
08:26For sure, tomorrow will be the same
08:28because we just played two days ago,
08:31so we know how good they are.
08:33And again, away, probably they are even more
08:36because of the environment.
08:38But we'll see how today's session is
08:41and then we'll take a decision for tomorrow's first 11.
08:44Okay, cameras off, please.