NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Enzo Maresca admits Chelsea “need a lot of things on the ball” after being beaten 4-1 by Celtic in their pre-season friendly on Saturday night.
Brendan Rodgers got some well-deserved wins at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana when goals from Matt O’Reily and Kyogo Furuhashi gave the Scottish champions the lead in the first half.
Luis Palma and Mikey Johnston scored after the break before Christopher Nkunku scored a consolation from the penalty spot.
This is Chelsea’s second pre-season match after a 2-2 draw against Wrexham earlier this week.
And Maresca admits that his players are still “confused” both in the starting line-up and abroad.
“As we said, the result is important,” Maresca said after Chelsea’s defeat.
“For us we have to analyse the game in general. I think with the ball the team is 10 times better than in the game against Wrexham and that’s vital because we can see the amount of chances we created in the first and second half. .
“And without the ball, we can certainly improve things and you can see that we rarely have to play short, a little bit more. It’s part of the process.
“Of course, we want to do a lot of things with the ball. One of the things we did wrong today was when the ball wasn’t under pressure, keeping the line high. When the ball isn’t under pressure, you deserve to drop it.
“We still mix up some things on and off the ball. For me this is general at the moment. We must do anything new. But surely, exercise after exercise, education after education, we will be prepared.
When asked if he had enough time to convey his ideas to his Chelsea players before the start of the new Premier League season, Maresca replied: “Surely we will be fit for this match or at least we will be. ” “for this game.
“But I don’t think everything is fine for the first referee. It’s a little difficult.
“The result is vital, but at this moment we have to judge and analyze other things.
“With the ball we created chances, we conceded too much and that’s something we want to improve. “
Maresca is also keen to point out that Celtic were further ahead of Chelsea in their pre-season schedule with their first Scottish Premiership match of the new season scheduled for next Sunday.
“How vital it is to realize the difference between them and us in terms of fitness,” Maresca said.
“You can see that they have already played 3 or 4 games and soon the season will start. It was a bit difficult for us physically.
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