Maresca on Chelsea's trip to Southampton
03/12/2024
Cobham Training centre, Surrey, Uk
03/12/2024
Cobham Training centre, Surrey, Uk
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SportsTranscript
00:00Right, good morning.
00:25We don't have any update at the moment in terms of what happened two days ago, so we
00:41need to wait a little bit and hopefully we can get some more news in the next days, but
00:47for sure he will be out for the next weeks for sure.
00:54It's the same situation more or less, it's getting better, but he needs still weeks to
00:59come back.
01:00In terms of Parno, how big a hole does that leave you defensively and will Benoit, Badia
01:06Schilt be the most likely replacement in the short term?
01:10Depends a little bit on the game plan, Benoit could be one of the solutions, but we have
01:15also Tosin, we have Axel, we have different players that they can play there, and for
01:21sure it's a big loss because Wes, he was doing fantastic every game, but we need to
01:28accept that, we need to find different solutions.
01:30We've seen you rotate in midweek in Europe and in the League Cup, will that be the plan
01:38again this week?
01:39I don't know.
01:40We had yesterday's session where the guys, the players that they played two days ago,
01:44they are recovering, the rest we had session, but now this afternoon we have one more session
01:50and then we decide.
01:51You said consistently that you're not in the title race, do you still maintain that?
01:58Absolutely, yeah.
01:59Your level though, on points, Angola's scored, Angola's conceded with Arsenal, who are in
02:05the title race, so what's the difference?
02:07That they have been there in the last two years, very close to City, and we were very
02:12far to City.
02:13You're not doing it to protect your players, take the pressure off?
02:18No, no.
02:19I said to be in the title race is nice pressure for me and for the players, it's not that
02:25kind of pressure that you don't like, it's that kind of pressure that you like because
02:29you are in the title race, but it's not our case, and the reason why I said, because Arsenal
02:35in the last two years, they were very, very, very close to City, Liverpool.
02:40They have been there, and we were not there, and as I said, hopefully soon we can be there.
02:48Hi Enzo, a word on Southampton, you beat them very comfortably with Leicester last
02:55season, what are you expecting from tomorrow's game?
03:01It's the worst game since we started the season for us, and it will be the tough game since
03:07we started the season.
03:09We need to be ready, otherwise it will be a bad day for us, and the reason why is because
03:17if you analyse the results, probably they are there, but in terms of performance, they
03:22were winning against Liverpool, they lost against City 1-0, they drew the last game
03:28against Brighton, and the way they play since last year, because as you said, I was in the
03:35Championship with Southampton last year, I know them quite well, they are very brave,
03:42and it's very clear what they want, they want to keep the ball, we want the same, and
03:47yeah, for sure it will be a tough, tough game, and we need to be ready.
03:52Just a quick word on Van Nistelrooy, you mentioned that you spoke with him before he joined Leicester,
03:58can you tell us a bit more about your relationship with him, and what you said to him in that conversation?
04:03No, Rudy is a friend of mine, I already said here before we faced Man Utd, he called me
04:10days ago before he took over there, and we had a conversation, I told him that Leicester
04:20is a fantastic club, first of all because there are fantastic people, and for sure it's
04:29a good club, and then at the end he decided to go, and this was our conversation.
04:35Nizam?
04:36Hi Enzo, I wanted to talk about you as a player, when did you start believing you could win
04:41trophies when you were a player, was it being in that Juventus dressing room, or was it
04:45the way you grew into Sevilla and then became a bigger player, when did you believe you
04:50could be a title-winning player?
04:52No, for sure Juventus shaped me a lot in terms of winning mentality, first of all because
05:01I had two managers there, one was Lippi and the other one was Ancelotti, both were winners,
05:07and the squad at that time was a winner squad, even now anyway, but at that time it was a
05:13winner squad, and you can smell day by day the desire to win games and the desire to
05:21win trophies.
05:22Do you use those experiences when you're a player to try and create something here that
05:27can be more of a winning mentality, to go from being a young talented squad to being
05:31a winning squad, like your Juve squad and your Sevilla squad?
05:34I try to do this in all the teams that I was in the past, even in my experience with City
05:42under-23, that was the first time we won that title, then Leicester was exactly the same,
05:48that probably was the most difficult one because after relegation the mood is disaster from
05:54everyone, and here I'm trying to do exactly the same.
06:01Is this all taking you a bit by surprise, how well things seem to be going so far?
06:08It looked like a really, really big job the few months ago, and we haven't really had
06:14any setbacks, it's all been a pretty smooth trajectory upwards so far, does it surprise
06:21you how smooth it's gone?
06:24For sure I still consider it a big job, as you said, but this just means that because
06:32it's a big job you are not thinking to do the right things.
06:37In terms of expectations, I said we are ahead of my expectations in the way we are playing,
06:46and for sure in terms of results, we started four or five months ago, it's a very early,
06:57short time together, but the best feeling that I have is that there are many, many,
07:03many things that we can do better, and we are in the right direction.
07:08You said that the club didn't set you specific targets, but you must have had an idea of
07:18what the next few years would look like, how long would it take, how long are you expected
07:23to go at, have you had to change your internal plan for what?
07:27No, no, the good thing is that I still think what I said to the owners and to the sport
07:34director the first time I met them, because of the age and because how good is the squad,
07:40for me Chelsea in the next five, ten years will be one of the teams or the team that
07:45is going to dominate English football.
07:48This is what I said to the club the first time I met them, no matter who will be the
07:51manager for the next five, ten years, because of the age and because of the squad, you can
07:57dominate English football, and I still think exactly the same.
08:02Now in terms of target, they didn't ask me any target, the only thing they asked me is
08:06to try to build for the next years something important, I think we are in the right direction,
08:12and in terms of personal target, I know that from outside you struggle to believe, but
08:19I just finished to see how today, this afternoon, the session we can help the players to improve
08:25and the team to improve.
08:26I'm not focused about, I'm focused about Southampton for sure, but I'm not focused
08:30about end of season, next season, two seasons, because it's not real.
08:36Simon?
08:37When was the last time you spoke to the owners?
08:41After the last game, after Aston Villa game.
08:47Can you share the notes of the conversation, are they telling you...
08:52No, it's a normal conversation that we used to have after every game, how was the game,
09:01your feeling, what works well, what doesn't work, and it's just about this.
09:06Are you getting the impression that they're very happy with the job you've done?
09:10Ah, this is a question for them, I hope so, and they show me, not happiness, but they
09:20show me that they are happy, they are okay, but it's more a question for them.
09:26And on Lesley Di Pietricu, obviously he was sent on loan to Southampton,
09:30he's not playing very much, will he be coming back in January?
09:36Oh, no idea, no idea at the moment.
09:38No idea about the loans, no idea about window transfer, we have still, I think before January,
09:43we have still seven Premier League games, it's too many games to be thinking about that.
09:49Okay, thanks.
09:50Camera's off.