Enzo Maresca previews Chelsea's cup trip to Newcastle

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca previews Chelsea's cup trip to Newcastle  29/10/2024  Chelsea Training Ground, Cobham, UK

Transcript

00:00Jürgen, do you want to get us started?

00:02How are you?

00:04I'm good, thank you. I just wanted to start off on the team,

00:07you've been a big change over the last couple of days.

00:10No, not any injury.

00:13So everything is fine.

00:15That's good to hear.

00:17I wanted to ask around Jadon Fanshawe,

00:19he's obviously not played, maybe not been able to bench one of the last two fixtures.

00:23Do you think this game could be an opportunity for him?

00:26And I guess how do you see his future at the club?

00:29It seemed like he was in great contention for choice when he first started

00:33and he may have fallen out of choice in the last couple of games.

00:36Yeah, Jadon is doing well since he arrived with us.

00:40For sure players, they cannot maintain the same level for all season

00:46because the amount of the games is huge.

00:50So the last two games he didn't play, not for any different reason,

00:55just for technical decisions, tactical decisions.

00:58No more than that.

01:00For sure, because of the amount of games, he's going to play many games

01:05and the only thing he has to do is continue to work hard

01:08and when we give him a chance, just to take it.

01:11Lovely.

01:13We spoke a lot about Cole Palmer over the last couple of days.

01:16His past during that game has been quite viral on the internet.

01:21I just want to ask around, just him as a player at the club,

01:24the influence he has amongst the team

01:26and how pleased you are with his progress so far this season?

01:30Very pleased, especially because I can see him enjoying.

01:34I always said that for the players it's the most important thing

01:38that they can enjoy playing football.

01:42So this is the first thing and then you can see that this continues to improve

01:48no matter in which position he's playing.

01:51The other day he was playing in a different position,

01:54in a different part of the pitch, but he did fantastic.

01:58So again, more or less it's similar to Jadon.

02:03They have to work hard and enjoy because they decide to be a football player,

02:09to be happy, to enjoy that moment.

02:12So they have just to continue on that.

02:14I just want to ask around Reece Jones,

02:17just how influential he is on the pitch.

02:20Just how pleased are you with him with time?

02:23I know you said you want to manage minutes with him for the rest of the season,

02:26but just how integral is he to your squad and your development going forward?

02:30He played two Premier League games in a row with us,

02:34Liverpool and Newcastle the other day.

02:37I think in both games he was very good.

02:40It didn't surprise me because I know how good he is

02:44and how important he is for us, for his teammates, for the club.

02:48So the only thing we want is to keep him fit

02:51and this is the main target for him.

02:56You've said a few times that you don't believe Chelsea are ready yet

03:00to challenge Liverpool, City, Arsenal and the top three in last year's top three.

03:06That would mean there's only one Champions League place

03:10that you think Chelsea are able to go for.

03:12Does that put a lot of pressure on the players for them to believe

03:15that there's only one top four spot that's within their reach?

03:25I already said that the club never mentioned me about top four.

03:29Since I met the club the first time they always mentioned me

03:33that the target, the idea was to build something important

03:38for the next four or five years.

03:40For sure we work every day to reach something important

03:46and we're going to try until the end to do our best.

03:50Then if there could be a pressure for the players,

03:54I don't think so, I don't think so to be honest.

03:58Probably if you go game by game you also can see yourself

04:06where you are in that moment and I think this can help a lot

04:11because if you start to think about top four or top six

04:16you are already thinking about May, June and for me it's too far

04:21and the same thing I think is for the players.

04:23So now we are where we are, we're going to continue to try

04:28to improve things, that is the most important thing

04:31and then at the end we'll see.

04:33Might it be time to rethink how close you are in terms of your progress

04:37to that top three given how well the team competed against Liverpool

04:43and they were probably a better team I think a lot of people think

04:46for a lot of that match.

04:47Do you think it might be time to rethink how close you are

04:51to challenging that top three?

04:53No, I still think the same.

04:55First of all because I think this team can improve many, many things.

04:59We can do many things better.

05:01I said we can defend better, we can attack better,

05:04we can manage better the game.

05:05The last 20 minutes against Newcastle we didn't manage in the right way

05:09and this is also a learning process for these kind of things

05:14so we need to improve how to play different kind of games,

05:17high pressing, teams that they sit back.

05:19So this is the reason why I said we are still far from that club

05:23and also because two of those three clubs,

05:28they work with the same manager, same idea for five, nine, eight years.

05:35Hi Enzo, there have been a record number of comebacks

05:37in the Premier League this season.

05:39Teams coming from two goals down to draw or win.

05:42I wanted to get your thoughts on why that might be.

05:45Is there something particular about Premier League games

05:48that make them quite difficult to control?

05:50Probably it's the reason why people are so in love with the Premier League.

05:54Probably because you're from England,

05:57you don't realise how abroad the Premier League is.

06:02And one of the reasons why is because the game never finishes.

06:06In different countries, I don't know,

06:09in my country for instance, if you are 2-0 up the last five minutes,

06:14you can have five, six players that fall down 20 seconds, half an hour.

06:18So the game, it's difficult to come back.

06:22In England, it's a different culture

06:24and probably it's the reason why it's so nice, so beautiful.

06:27I wanted to ask about Wesley as well.

06:29He seems to be in a bit of discomfort with his knee against Newcastle,

06:33where it's strapped up.

06:34Is that something that he's just going to have to manage long-term

06:37in terms of being able to play games?

06:40He had a bad movement in the first half, very bad.

06:46But he's a fighter.

06:48He was there probably with pain, playing with pain.

06:52I said in one of my press conferences,

06:55the last press conference, that I really love Wes

06:58because it's not easy after one year out, more than one year out,

07:02to come back and be a fighter in the way he is.

07:05And now he's also fighting with pain.

07:07And when you have that kind of injury,

07:10probably you're going to feel pain for the rest of your career.

07:15Unfortunately, it's like this.

07:17But he finished well.

07:19He looks okay.

07:21And this is the most important thing.

07:23He seems to have a good partnership with Levi as well.

07:25They complement each other quite well in defence.

07:27Yeah, absolutely.

07:29Also, I think when he played against West Ham away,

07:33he played as a full-back with the tossing, with Levi.

07:37I think in general, all of them, even Benoit,

07:41I think against Liverpool he was very good.

07:43Panathinaikos, he was very good.

07:45So they are doing all well.

07:50Hello.

07:51I wanted to ask about Jadon Sancho.

07:53We've only seen him play on the left wing so far.

07:56But is there a chance for him to perhaps play on the right in some games?

08:00Because we saw him do that at Dortmund and Manchester United.

08:03Yeah, for sure. He can do that. Yeah, no doubt.

08:06Okay, and just on tomorrow's team,

08:09you've made 11 changes for a couple of games for the cup competitions.

08:14Do you have to be a bit careful with tomorrow night

08:16coming up against a quality opposition in Newcastle

08:19that you don't perhaps change too much?

08:21I'm always worried.

08:23I'm always concerned about the other team.

08:26For sure, tomorrow will be the same

08:28because we just played two days ago,

08:31so we know how good they are.

08:33And again, away, probably they are even more

08:36because of the environment.

08:38But we'll see how today's session is

08:41and then we'll take a decision for tomorrow's first 11.

08:44Okay, cameras off, please.

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