Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca preview's Ipswich ahead of their game on Monday
26/12/2024
Stamford Bridge, London, UK
26/12/2024
Stamford Bridge, London, UK
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00:00Can I ask one final question on to this section, just on Man Utd's athletes? I'm not sure we've heard yet why you want them much.
00:07Technical decision.
00:08Sorry?
00:09Technical decision.
00:10OK. Thank you. OK, so moving on to...
00:16Kieran McKenna was linked with this job before you got it. You know him from your time in the Championship.
00:21How highly do you rate him as a manager?
00:24He's doing fantastic. Since he joined Ipswich, they are doing top. Even this year, they are doing well.
00:32So, congratulations to him for the way he's doing everything since he joined the club.
00:40And even this season, he's doing very well.
00:43What kind of challenge is it for the Chelsea side, facing a team at home, under the lights,
00:48fighting for relegation and the possibility of a point?
00:52Yeah, but I think all the Premier League games, they are complicated.
00:56No matter the other team, you see every game we play, that is always complicated.
01:02And you see also the other team, that you struggle to beat teams.
01:06I think Ipswich game will be exactly the same.
01:09You have some great momentum going for the game at the weekend before today,
01:13so how important is it for you to end the year on a high?
01:17Very important. We're going to try to prepare the game in the way we always try to win the game.
01:24We have a bad feeling about the last game that we lost against Fulham,
01:32and hopefully we can come back with three points after this game.
01:41You've got quite a lot of players out on the bench.
01:45Was it something in training, was it something in performance?
01:50No, it's just a technical decision. Sometimes we make some decisions,
01:55and it's no more than that.
01:57Will he be in contention for the squad?
02:01Yeah, for sure.
02:16As a particular part, what he did,
02:19was it the sort that has a bit of an effect on him to go again?
02:26How do you take it?
02:30Yeah, for sure after a game you need to go again, no matter the result.
02:36Especially this month, I think in December we already played eight or nine games in 25-27 days.
02:43So now it's also important to recover energy and to go again on Monday,
02:48and then if we're going to make one, two or three changes, we'll see.
02:53Now it's a bit early, but for sure we are going to change something.
03:04It just seems such a strange decision because he's been such an important player for you this season.
03:09You left him out recently because his level dropped in training.
03:13Was it something like that? Do you have to keep competition high?
03:16Do you have to keep motivation high?
03:18No, yeah, for sure the competition has to be higher,
03:21but not only Noni Madhuika was out, also Renato Vega was not on the squad.
03:25And the reason is exactly the same for both of them.
03:28There is not any different reason, it's just a technical decision.
03:32Was Gillespie Hall technical?
03:34No, no, Keenan is injured.
03:36We'll do two more, Kieran and Jack.
03:38Can I just follow up one, just quickly?
03:41I guess it's just so important, isn't it, when you have these setbacks,
03:45to keep the season going and to find a quick response from the squad?
03:50Yeah, absolutely. We never thought we were going to win every game.
03:54They just said to me that we lost the game on 18 August anyway,
04:01and then after two months, and then after two months.
04:04But we know that the reality is not just to lose one game every two months.
04:09So now it's just a matter of how we react and try to go again.
04:17You worked with Liam Dalot in Manchester City,
04:19who was the manager when he broke into the first team and got his debut.
04:23What makes him special and what potential does he have?
04:27Because we're starting to see that now.
04:29Liam is a fantastic player, I think, also for the age.
04:32I think he's so three. We spent one year together.
04:35I think in that season he scored 22, 24 goals.
04:39And he's a very good striker.
04:41As I said many times, England is quite lucky because they have many good players,
04:46good strikers, and he's working hard off the ball, on the ball.
04:53He understands the game, he can score goals,
04:55and also because of his age, I think he can be an important player for England.
05:03Just to go back to Nomi quickly,
05:05you've spoken about his maturity or his training level before in the past.
05:09When you've taken that step to go public with it, how has he responded?
05:13Fantastic. Very good.
05:15No, no, very good. He responded very good at that time.
05:20So there is no more than that.
05:22And you're expecting the same this time?
05:25Yeah, absolutely.
05:27OK, thanks very much.