Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca gave an update on the injury situation at the club including a setback for Reece James and previewed the return to his former club Leicester
Cobham, London, UK
Cobham, London, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:30Good afternoon all. We will take the usual format and begin with Sky Sports and James Cole.
00:38Hi Enzo. How are things looking on the injury front? There were a few knocks before the international break.
00:43Sancho, Gustavo, Kovane, Javier, how's everyone now?
00:47We have for sure just one injury player, that is Rhys.
00:56Unfortunately he felt something small and we don't want to take any risk for the weekend.
01:02So he's the only one for sure that is not available for this weekend.
01:06The rest, some of them they are better, some of them they are still in doubt.
01:10And also we need to wait, because today is the first session that we do with all the players from the international team.
01:18So we'll see after today's session.
01:21You say it's small, what area of his body?
01:24It's the hamstring and it's a muscular problem.
01:32We don't want to take any risk for this weekend, so hopefully it's not something long.
01:42In terms of going back to the King Power Stadium, facing your former club, how are you feeling about it?
01:48First of all excited and also thankful, because it was a fantastic season.
01:56I met there people that are very difficult to find in football.
02:00The owner, his family, they are fantastic people, fantastic human beings.
02:06They care for players, staff, all the people that work inside the club.
02:14And you can see that.
02:16The Sport Director, John Ruttgen, to be honest.
02:19It was a fantastic season, first of all, because I met good people.
02:23And then in terms of players, it was top, it was fantastic.
02:30There was a fantastic connection between the players and the staff.
02:35And I think this is something that also you need to create when you want to reach something important.
02:42I will be thankful always, all my life, to that squad.
02:47Because, first of all, most of them, I'm still in contact with them.
02:51So we have a special connection.
02:55For me it was a fantastic season.
02:58From a tactical point of view, can it help with you knowing the team and the players so well?
03:03Probably it's on the other side.
03:05They know exactly what we do.
03:08So it's on both sides.
03:12But we're going to try to adjust small things, small details, to see if we can do something different.
03:23But I think it's more from their side that they know us better than we know them.
03:32Because we are watching the game that they are playing.
03:35The international break always gives you a chance to assess, take things in and then look forward.
03:41Going forward to this next phase of the season, what's the biggest improvement you want to see?
03:46Some people point to defence, but what do you feel it is?
03:50I said many times, we can attack better and we can defend better.
03:56But in the Premier League there are only four clubs, or five probably, that they concede less than us.
04:02So that means that probably also defending, we are doing quite well.
04:06Now if people think that we are not going to concede a goal, I said many times, it's PlayStation, it's not football.
04:12We are going to concede a goal until the end, for sure, 100%.
04:16And we decide in which way we concede the goal.
04:19But at the end, you are going to concede a goal, yes or yes.
04:22But there are just four or five clubs, teams, that they concede less than us.
04:26So I don't know why people are thinking that we are defending bad.
04:31Now if you ask me, for sure, 100%, there are many things that we can do better defensively, no doubt.
04:36But also offensively, in both situations.
04:39Do you know your best defence? Because the centre-backs have been fairly consistent, but your full-backs have changed quite a bit.
04:46Yes, but also we changed full-back in the way we are going to play, because we use the full-back a lot.
04:51We don't move the centre-defender. Hopefully one day we can start to move the centre-defender.
04:55But in this moment we are moving the full-backs, and probably this is the reason why we are changing them.
05:02But overall it's not just about the defence, it's the way we press, and we defend all together.
05:09Soraya?
05:10Hello. How much does international break performances factor into players actually starting at Chelsea?
05:16We've seen Felix take his chance with Portugal, and you mentioned Felix and Palma potentially playing in the Pockets together soon.
05:24Yes, this could be a target for the future, to see both of them play together.
05:32The international break is good, first of all, for the ones that don't go with the international team to recovery.
05:39And the ones that go with the international team, some of them, like Joao, did fantastic.
05:45But Joao has been doing fantastic with us since day one.
05:48As I've said many times, the only problem is to try to find balance when we try to prepare the game.
05:55And then it's for us, but it's for all the club after international break.
06:00There's always a little bit of doubt because you don't know how they come back.
06:03As I said, today is the first session, 48 hours before the game, that we work with the 12, 13, 14 players that were with the international team.
06:12We need to see how they come back. Some of them came back this morning from Argentina, from South America.
06:17So it's not easy, but we'll see. We still have time, 48 hours.
06:21As you said, when Caicedo and Enzo have a limited time to train after travelling so long, and you have to protect Lavia,
06:27in your mind they seem to be your main midfielders that you start in the Premier League.
06:31Who do you think in the team can also replicate the double pivot and have those attributes?
06:36Renato did, Vega did in some games, but he also played 180 minutes with Portugal.
06:43In the cup, Cesare, to be honest, did very well, but he also played both games with Italy under 21.
06:50So, for sure, the ones that they are going to play, they are not going to be 100%, because they are human beings.
07:00And when you play two games in South America and you come back and you have to play again,
07:03even if you are 20 years old, 25, it doesn't matter. You are tired, you are a human being.
07:09But hopefully we can find the right balance.
07:12And you spoke previously about some of the trickiest games being the ones that everyone expects you to win.
07:17And you spoke about how this young squad are very professional and focused in those games.
07:21Leicester's next. How do you ensure that that mentality remains when the media and everyone thinks,
07:27yeah, Chelsea should be in the next game?
07:29No, it's not an easy game, absolutely.
07:34And you can see week after week that it's always complicated.
07:38No matter which team, where you are in the table, you struggle.
07:42But we are going to try to make sure that we are focused, we are prepared.
07:47And we, as I said many times, we are going to try to prepare to win the best way and try to win.
07:54Hi, Enzo. With Rhys, is it a case of maybe he'll play a few games and then there might be a small injury problem
08:00until he's fully over his injury problems?
08:02Is it kind of expected that he'll have setbacks before he'll be fully fit for a long period?
08:10No, as I said, he felt something, he has to be out for sure this weekend.
08:18And then we'll see. At the moment we don't know for how long. And then we'll see.
08:23Do you think you can get him on the pitch for a long period of time, like several months, where he has no problems?
08:29For sure. But at this moment it's not happening. But hopefully it could happen soon.
08:35And the other thing that I wanted to ask you is, on international duty, Harry Kane was speaking about England players
08:41and commitment, and obviously Palmer and Caldwell pulled out.
08:45Can you just talk a bit about the conversations that Chelsea had with England about those two players and how are they doing?
08:51To be honest, we play Arsenal and then I left for one week.
08:55So I don't know how was the conversation between the club and the international team.
08:58But how are they? Are they okay, those two players?
09:01As I said, yes, some of them are better, some of them we text today.
09:05But overall, for sure, they are much better.
09:11Just back on Reece, was it in training during the international break that you said?
09:17No, yesterday, two days ago. Yesterday we were off, two days ago.
09:22And how was he in terms of it? It must be hard for him mentally to keep having these setbacks.
09:33I know that it's not easy, but if every time he's getting an injury it becomes hard for him, for me it's even worse.
09:40He has to accept that and he has to try to avoid as much as he can.
09:47But sometimes things happen, even if you want to avoid that.
09:52As I said, this weekend he's not available, hopefully he can be the next one.
09:56Anyway, now we start to play every three days, so probably it's difficult that he could be available for...
10:02Anyway, conference game, he's not in the squad at the moment.
10:06He's in the squad but he's not playing, but hopefully he can be available soon.
10:11And just on Leicester, do you really feel like you're a better coach since you joined Chelsea,
10:18given everything you've experienced? No slight on Leicester obviously,
10:21but you've already become a better coach with everything you've had to deal with at Chelsea,
10:25you've gone up another level.
10:27To be honest, I work every day to become better.
10:30And so I hope that because I like to see things, analyse, you can improve.
10:39We try every time to improve players, but also we need to improve us as a staff, as a manager.
10:46So in my case I try to improve every day.
10:53And hopefully, I don't know if I'm better or worse,
10:56but the important thing is that I'm always curious to see things and to study.
11:05So this is the only thing that I'm focused on.
11:09And how much time during the international break did you...
11:12I think you said you were going to watch Chelsea games, etc.
11:15How much time did you spend working or could you actually switch off?
11:20No, I took until Thursday, we played Arsenal at home,
11:24and I took until Thursday completely off.
11:27And then from Thursday we start again.