Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on the injury crisis at the club and the impressive start newly promoted Sunderland have made to their Premier League campaign Cobham, London, UK
00:00Okay, good morning and thank you for joining us. We will take the usual format today with
00:25two sections, beginning with a live broadcast section. Gail Davis from Sky Sports News, off you go Gail.
00:33Morning, should we start with the normal injury update and in particular are you interested in where Liam de Lapis in terms of dates you may be penciled in to play as well as for injury?
00:49Yeah, we don't have any new injury. Liam took part of the session yesterday with the team for the first time, so it's not going to be available for tomorrow game, but probably for the next one, yes.
01:03So a little bit ahead of the schedule and that feels like quite a piece of you?
01:07The schedule also can change a little bit, depends on how they improve or get worse. The first time they said to me that it could be available for the 25th of October, so today is 24th or 25th.
01:27So a cup game next week possibly?
01:31Yeah, it can be available.
01:33A lot was made on Wednesday about all your youngsters and the records that they broke and how many you had on the pitch. As a coach, obviously coaching some players were hundreds of millions and also the opportunity of coaching kids.
01:55What's the challenge in bringing those youngsters through? How do you approach it? Do you actually enjoy that side of it?
02:05The ability to kind of mould these guys forever more?
02:08Yeah, I said after the game that it was a special night, especially for the club, for the fans with so many young players.
02:17I said many times that they are all good players, talented players and the main thing for me is just to try to help them day by day, how they can get better and better and also for me personally, it's the only way to improve the team if you are able to improve players. So this is the main target with young players.
02:39When you say helping them day by day by day, clearly it's a coaching help, but what else do you do to make sure these guys are going to be at the very top of time?
02:51Again, just try to help them first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, we have the coaching staff that, you know, with all of them, especially after the session, we dedicate time to them to try to improve, because first of all, they are young, they need to improve.
03:19It doesn't matter the age because even the ones that are a little bit older, they need to improve.
03:25But for sure if you want to improve the team, you need to improve players.
03:29And I've seen you all talking about the whole person, not just the player here.
03:34Yeah, the one that you want to see him.
03:37Is one of the hardest things within that, I guess, putting him back?
03:41Because I guess someone like Esteban, when he's young, as talented as he is,
03:47there's probably the temptation he wants to play all the time.
03:50Probably the temptation from you that you want to play all the time.
03:53How do you strike that balance? Because he's still only 18.
03:56No, the balance for me is quite easy in terms of we have 24-25 players, good players,
04:04but at the end only 11 they can start.
04:07But I think since I joined the club, I showed that it depends on the game,
04:13depends on the plan, we used to change players.
04:15So I know that when they don't play, they are not happy.
04:19But it's not just about one, it's about all of them.
04:22But they also know that they cannot play every game.
04:25And what sort of conversations are you having with him?
04:27Because you must say to him, you're 18, you want to play for the next 10-15 years.
04:34How does that go down with a kid who's just on the verge of becoming a superstar?
04:39Yeah, it's with Esteval, but it's almost with all of them.
04:44It doesn't matter the age, because if you say to Tosin,
04:49that is the oldest one that is not going to play, he's not happy.
04:53So it's not about the age, it's about that when they don't play, they are not happy.
04:57But again, they have to understand that they cannot play every game.
05:01In terms of Sunday and the weekends, the teams that have come up may be surprised if you've done very, very well.
05:13And looking at it in a bigger picture of the Premier League,
05:18how much more competitive and better does it make it more challenging for you on Saturday?
05:25I think they show since the season start that they are a very good team.
05:33They play together, they work together, they play as a team.
05:38Also in terms of results, they have the same points than DAS.
05:41So they are showing how good they are doing since they start.
05:45And again, it's a Premier League game.
05:47I don't think there is any game that can be easy.
05:50They are old if you are game.
05:51Thanks Gail, but shall we?
05:53Hi Enzo, you just mentioned Sunderland, their manager, Rajis Lovri, praised Chelsea,
05:59said you guys are a good example of Sunderland because of how dynamic you are for such a young side.
06:05I just wonder what do you make of him as a manager and his side?
06:08Have you been pleasantly surprised at how well they have started the season?
06:12I spent one season with Leicester in the Championship and I love the Championship.
06:19So even if we play Premier League and Champions League, I always watch Championship.
06:23So I watched Sunderland since last season when the new manager arrived.
06:29They are doing very good, not from just this season, from last season.
06:34They play good football, they are quite strong, physicality is strong.
06:37So I really like the way they are doing their things.
06:41Mark, you of course started seeing Sunderland come back and we've seen him deployed up front.
06:46I just wonder how do you see his development as a number nine and then the way that it impacts
06:50your arpeggio's ability to do what he does in a deeper position?
06:54Yeah, Mark is a typical number nine, you can see physicality strong.
06:59He's a box player. Again, it's 06, he can improve and he can do many things better.
07:09And we are working with him every day to try to help him.
07:13And as I said already many times, he's going to play games with us.
07:17Then in terms of Joao, we know that he can play as a nine or he can play as a ten.
07:24Then in both positions, I think Joao is very good. But probably when he has another nine next to him,
07:31he's playing better.
07:34Just on Mark here, obviously when he came back from Sunderland, he wasn't really playing.
07:39Did he come and see you and have a chat with you and did you have to explain to him where his position was?
07:45Yeah, we had a chat with Mark two weeks ago. I told him that the way he was training,
07:51I didn't like and he needs to change. He changed and he got the chance. Easy like that.
07:57So what didn't you like about the way he was training?
07:59He was not training well.
08:01In what way?
08:03In all the way.
08:04When he wasn't giving enough commitment or...?
08:06In all the way, yeah.
08:08And why do you think that was for a young player?
08:10I don't know. That's why young, sometimes they are in one way, the other way.
08:14So you need to go slowly, slowly with them. But since we chat, it's top, it's fantastic.
08:19He's working very good.
08:21And you brought him up for half-time on Wednesday, so is that suggesting he might start tomorrow?
08:25And is he ready to start, do you think, a Premier League game?
08:29Absolutely, yes. He's ready to start.
08:32He's ready to start, yeah.
08:33And Liam Delatley spoke about being close to him, so he may come back next week.
08:39When he does come back, is there a possibility that Mark may then go back on loan to Sunderland at some stage?
08:44Oh my God. We are in October. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know also because in football,
08:52things can change very quick for everyone, for players, for managers, for everyone. So it's very difficult to say.
08:59Just one on Sunderland. I know in the past, against Sainz, teams have come up against teams like Sunderland.
09:06Sometimes Chelsea have struggled that out. Does it give you a different challenge?
09:13The challenge is always the same. Try to win the game, knowing that there is another team that also
09:18they want the same, they want to win the game. And they're going to try to create another situation,
09:24a different situation for us.
09:26Thanks, John. Simon?
09:28A little bit about Estevelle. You've been talking about him being a young man, 18,
09:35a lot of attention on him in Brazil. There's now increasing attention on him and how he's playing so well here.
09:41How do you and the players around him help him cope with the increase of scrutiny and suddenly his name being mentioned everywhere?
09:50To be honest, we have Andre Santos and Joao Pedro. They are helping him a lot because they are already in Europe
10:01from a different time, so they are helping him a lot. Us as a staff, as a club, we just try to help him,
10:09to give him all the attention that he needs. Not just with Estevelle, with all the young players
10:15that they come from abroad. But we said the other day, he's a special player. The good thing about him
10:23is that he just thinks about football, he enjoys, he's happy. And also, again, his family is doing a fantastic job
10:32in terms of the way they grow him up.
10:35And what did you make of, I don't know whether it's pre-planned or whether you've never talked about it before,
10:40the Benzo giving, as in Fernandes, giving Estevelle a penalty? I don't know whether you knew there was an incident
10:48the season before you arrived where Chelsea players argued over a penalty and it sort of took away from
10:55the performance that night, whereas this seemed like quite a good gesture that the team spirit is very good.
11:00It's very, very good. I told the players after the game that for sure we were very happy about the winning,
11:07about the three points against Ajax. But the main thing about that game was Enzo when he gave the
11:16ball to Estevelle because it showed how is the team in this moment, how they are all together
11:21in terms of togetherness, in terms of effort. And this is what we need if we want to try to do something important.
11:27Thanks Simon, and we'll finish this section with Rob.
11:30What targets did you set for the players at the start of this season? And do you revise those expectations
11:37as the season goes on? So how four wins in a row will make you reassess what might be possible?
11:44The target with the players since day one is to try to work hard every day, try to improve yourself,
11:51that is the only way to try to achieve something important. Last season we achieved Conference League,
12:00Club World Cup, a top four that I think no one of you in this room at the beginning of the season
12:06expect that and so it was very important and this season when we started the season was exactly the
12:11same. Try to work hard, improve yourself, try to understand how we can do things better day by day
12:17and then at the end of the season we see. Do you personally have like a more concrete idea of
12:22outcomes in what you like at the end of the season? I'm just like the player, I say this to the
12:28players but I also say this to myself, try to improve, try to analyse, try to study, that is the only way
12:34that you can improve and you can achieve something important.
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