Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on the need to respond to their recent poor form when they face Graham Potter's West Ham and an update on the latest transfer rumours
Cobham, London, UK
Cobham, London, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Good morning. We will take the usual format today and begin with Paul Gilmore and Sky
00:29Sports News.
00:30Have you got any fresh injury worries, any players returning for the game against West
00:36Ham?
00:37No, they are exactly the same as the last one. Wes is out, Romelu is out, Benoit is
00:44out and we are... they are okay.
00:52First of all, from your perspective, do you need a response after the Man City game?
01:05Oh yeah, we need a response. We need a good performance to try to win the game, but not
01:13because it's after the City game. It's because we try to do always the same and for sure
01:20it could be a good option, a good moment to get three points, especially at home.
01:27With Grimm Potter coming back, did you see much of Chelsea when he was there? Did you
01:33have a bit of sympathy for him? Things seem a lot more settled at the club these days
01:37compared to maybe when he was there.
01:39No idea. No idea because when he was here, I don't know how was the environment, how
01:44was the situation. From my point of view, I can say that since we started, I'm working
01:51happy with the right environment.
01:54Obviously, the day of the game is also deadline day. What impact does that have on you?
02:02Oh, me and... I think it's... I said many times, it's the same situation for all the
02:07clubs, all the managers. I think it's good also because you can work just with the ones
02:13that you are sure they're going to be with you until the end. So it's good for me, but
02:17it's good for all the clubs.
02:19Do you expect a player, at least one player, to come in before the deadline ends?
02:28You can expect players arriving and you can expect players leaving. So it's like this
02:34in this moment. I don't have any idea about the ones that they can leave or the ones that
02:39they can arrive. Anything can happen. We'll see. For me, the main focus is just 48 hours
02:45of the game and it's the main focus and the most important thing.
02:49What impact does the fact that it's on deadline day have on your selection? Because if you
02:54think of Joao Felix, Axel de Sassi, talk of maybe them leaving, maybe Christopher Nkunku
03:00as well. Is that a factor in your team selection for Monday?
03:04No, in this moment we have many noises around the players, but it's not just for us. It's
03:12probably, if you ask Graham, that it's exactly the same. I don't know if they have some noises
03:18about players, but overall I think it's exactly the same situation for all the clubs, all
03:24the managers. The good thing, as you said, is that Monday is the last day.
03:28You said after the City match that when you press high you have to be brave and that sometimes
03:36left your defenders wondering around the parlour but you felt they dealt with it well. What
03:40was the philosophy going into that game, playing a sort of a high line and a mid-block? Because
03:44we've seen City previously being beaten with counter-attacks much easier. What was your
03:48thinking behind that?
03:50No, the plan behind the game, as I said, I think in that kind of games you have to be
03:58brave, you have to asset. You have two ways for me. The one is that you drop and you give
04:03them 80 per cent of possession and you just wait. Sometimes you can be lucky and you can
04:08win the game or you can get the draw. And the other way is to try to be aggressive,
04:13to try to be brave. I think especially in the second half, every time they try to play
04:18short from behind, we recover the ball, I think, 90 per cent. And three times they play
04:23long from Ederson to Haaland, two times they score and one time they almost score with
04:28Marmouche, the shot from outside the box. That's what it is. You have to asset, you
04:32have to think that it can happen. It can happen when they have Ederson that is good in long
04:42range and Haaland that is top in that kind of ball. But as I said, it's a decision that
04:49you have to take before the game and I prefer always to see my team brave, then to sit back
04:54and be there 90 minutes and just wait for something.
04:58And Chelsea are one of the top teams in the league for crosses in the box but the conversion
05:02has been a bit low. Jackson's obviously still improving match by match and when you sub
05:06him it's mainly for Christophe, who you said yourself is not a nine. Do you think Guy is
05:11ready to play and come in in these moments because we've seen he can head the ball and
05:15he presses and has the same work rate off the ball at Jackson?
05:18Yeah, Marc is improving a lot to be honest. He's doing fantastic, he's improving a lot.
05:22I think day after day it's more ready for that kind of game. But sometimes the decision
05:28I take is because I see something and sometimes it's good, sometimes not. But for sure Marc
05:35is, I think day after day, is more ready.
05:39And you know Potter well, he knows some of the players here well. In terms of the London
05:43derby on Monday, we've seen West Ham's potential, some wins under him already, they've changed
05:47their shape, they've pressed in different shapes. What sort of tactical battle do you
05:51expect at Stamford Bridge?
05:52No, they are, as you said, they are very aggressive. I watched the game, the four or five games
05:58with Graham in charge. You can see that they try to be very aggressive, even the last game
06:05against Aston Villa. So it's a game that will be a tough game, like always. And in terms
06:13of tactical, we have tomorrow, we have still two days to prepare the game and we're going
06:18to see.
06:20Have you decided who's going to start on goal on Monday night?
06:29No, not yet. Not yet. The decision we have, as I said, probably two or three days. The
06:35good thing is that any decision I take I feel good because every time Philip played since
06:41we started he has done well. So Philip or Robert we'll see, but any decision will be
06:48OK.
06:49Are you at all concerned about the fans' reaction to Rob Sanchez? And one, would that be a factor
06:59in your decision? And two, would you urge the fans, if he does start on Monday, to get
07:05behind the team that has voiced their disappointment?
07:10The only thing I can say is that we need the fans. We need them. The players need them.
07:19Understanding that sometimes for different reasons they cannot be happy with the players
07:25or with the manager in general. They cannot be happy. But for sure we need their support
07:32because they have to trust our direction. I'm the first one that if I see something
07:38that I don't like, I'm the first one that I don't accept that. They can be happy in
07:47terms of the way they try to work every day, the way they try to embrace all the situations
07:54we have this season. I'm sure that at the end we're going to be there fighting for something.
08:01Last season at Leicester, after dominating for several months, you went on a bit of a
08:11tricky run. What did you learn from that period and is that helping you now in terms of coping
08:17with this difficult run at Chelsea?
08:19It happened exactly the same. That moment, the good thing was that we were dominating
08:29almost all the games, creating chances. But the big difference was inside the box. We
08:35conceded goals that we could do better and we didn't score goals that we had many chances.
08:43More or less here it's happening the same because all the games we had chances to score,
08:50even the last game I think. After ten minutes we can be 0-2 and probably the game is completely
08:55different. So for me the big difference in this moment, I know that we struggled with
09:00the results in this moment in the last six or seven, eight, I don't remember. We struggled
09:04with the results. But the performance is there. Probably in some games the performance has
09:10not been there for 95 minutes, 100 minutes, that you need that. It has been for 60 minutes,
09:1570 minutes, 45 minutes and you need to be there for 100 minutes. For sure it's something
09:20that we need to improve. But for me the big difference in this moment in the last games
09:25has been inside the box. We conceded probably goals that we can avoid and we could score
09:31goals that probably in different moments we scored goals. It's where it is, we need to
09:35continue and try to understand how we can improve these kind of things.
09:40Chelsea were in top, top form when you played Brentford in December. But then maybe there's
09:45a period where agents start to talk to players, they start to maybe have some offers and things
09:50like that. Do you think that's affected the squad because it seems like about 30 per cent
09:54maybe of the players, they have these stories, these transfer rumours about them.
09:59100 per cent.
10:00Has that affected the squad?
10:01100 per cent for me yes. Could affect, but not only us. All the teams because at the
10:06end, I said many times, they are human beings. And even if they say no I'm professional,
10:12I'm focused on this. At the end if they are talking about you, about different clubs,
10:16probably the focus is not 100 per cent. But as I said it's not just for us. This can be
10:23something. The other one I think, I said, probably losing Wes. That for us since we
10:33start has been a key player, has been also some moment. But if you see City or Arsenal
10:38or the other team, happened in all the teams. So the reason why it's different, the good
10:42thing is that we still play a good game, good performance, we still create chances. And
10:47as I said probably in this moment, the big difference for me has been inside the box.
10:52Is there an issue with the subs and players on the sides?
11:10No, it's always. Probably if you go back, we won some games where I did, I changed players
11:16in the last five minutes. Because we won, no one realised that the change was in the
11:20last minutes. Then when you don't win and you don't make change, for sure you are asking
11:25why you don't make change. It's just the game plan, it's just the game that requires some
11:29changes. But as he said, probably the good thing is that Monday everything finishes.
11:37Is there a benefit sometimes to take in a player that's struggling out of the first
11:43team for a bit like Robin Sanchez? You've always been very forthright, he's your number
11:48one, you've always defended him publicly. But sometimes is it what a player needs when
11:54they're struggling just to take the spotlight off them, just to sit out for a bit?
11:57Yes, sometimes it can happen. It's not only a Robert case, I think it's happened already
12:04this season, I think with Alisson, that he was okay but he was on the bench for some
12:09games. The other day I was reading about Donnarumma, that this season with PSG he was playing always,
12:17but for some games Luis Enrique left him out. Now he's playing every game, he's doing well.
12:23So sometimes yes, for sure, it can be a solution. But that means that this is a Robert case.
12:30Is there a fear that with Philip Jorgensen, it's clearly a bit of a problem in that position
12:36at the moment, the longer that he doesn't get the nod, the longer that he goes sitting
12:40on the bench watching this, that could become a problem for his confidence development?
12:46I don't think so because the first time I spoke with Philip in June or July, I don't
12:53remember, I have been clear that the number one choice was Robert. So you cannot come
12:58here and expect, for sure, if the number one is Robert, and then because we have two
13:05good keepers, we can make some different decisions, for sure can happen. So that means that Robert
13:12can mistake every game and he's always going to play. No, but the number one choice was
13:18Robert. Then we'll see during the season and we'll see on Sunday.
13:22And we'll finish this section with Marty.
13:25Just for clarification, I read in the criticism of Robert that OCAFA could be recalled. One,
13:32is it possible to recall them because of the terms of the loan? And two, have you thought
13:37about doing that?
13:38No, absolutely not. No, no, absolutely not.
13:42Okay, cameras off please.