Maresca on Lavia injury, Neto return and Wolves test (Full Presser)

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on the injury to Romeo Lavia and the fitness of Pedro Neto as they prepare for a Premier League clash with Wolves which Maresca expects to be a test Cobham, London, UK

Transcript

00:00Okay, good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us for today's press conference.

00:19If you'd like to ask a question, please raise your hand.

00:22We will begin the broadcast section with Gail from Sky Sports.

00:25Good morning. How are you? How are the body clocks, the journey?

00:31Did you get back okay yesterday morning? Everyone raring to go for tomorrow evening?

00:35Yeah, we are okay. The players had the rest yesterday and we have a session this afternoon.

00:40And just bring us up to date then on, I guess, Lavia's injury is probably the nearest one, isn't it?

00:46Quad injury, where's he at? How is he? Because he's had an absolute horror show of injuries, hasn't he?

00:54We don't have an update at the moment, so we need to wait still some hours to do all the check that he needs.

01:02But for sure, at the moment, it's injury.

01:06Yeah, obviously not going to feature.

01:08Say again?

01:09Not going to feature in the immediacy?

01:12No.

01:13How bad is it?

01:14It's painful, so we need to do all the check and then we see.

01:19Neto back for you this week?

01:21Pedro, he had a session yesterday with Fisio outside in the pitch, it was good.

01:29Today he will try with us and then we take the final decision.

01:33I know after the game on Wednesday you spoke about rotation quite a bit.

01:38I know that the club has spoken about how they are backing you in this policy.

01:43I just wondered if you'd seen the comments from Wayne Rooney this week in terms of how frustrated players are

01:50and whether senior players have come to you because it makes their job so much harder, doesn't it,

01:56when they're constantly looking alongside and it's not the same player with that same understanding.

02:02I said already many times, we are in a moment, in an era where anyone can say what they want, it's correct, I completely respect.

02:29But I also said after the Karabakh game that since I joined the club, it's also my view to rotate players and no one complain

02:40in the moment that you don't win the game, I can understand that no one agrees.

02:46I think that when the rotation is Andre Santos, Brazil international player, Jarrell Lato, Holland international player,

02:56Estevão, Brazil international player, it's not about rotation.

03:01They are good, they are talented, they are young and for sure when they are young you have to give them the chance

03:08to make some mistakes, to be better. The same thing I think happened in the past with Joshua Chipong.

03:14But again, I understand that when you don't win the game, the problem is the rotation or different things.

03:21As a player though, did you like it when you were lining up?

03:25I love the rotation as a player. I love rotation as a player.

03:30I don't believe you. You liked lining up against a different person every week, did you?

03:36Or did you like it when you had somebody alongside you, you know how they think, you know how they move,

03:43you look at the very successful sides in the Premier League over the past few years

03:47and it's often built on two central defenders that play week in, week out,

03:52the back four that play week in, week out because it gives them that extra under pressure.

03:57I think in this moment football is a bit different compared to years ago in terms of physicality and intensity.

04:06For me personally, it's impossible to play with the same players, 65 games in one season,

04:12Champions League, Premier League and you cannot say, yeah, but why years ago it was possible?

04:18Because it was different football, it was not so physical. I played for 20 years, it was not so physical.

04:23Now change, so you need to rotate. This is my personal view and I think you need to do that if you want to see a season like a marathon.

04:33Then when you are in February, when you are in March, that is the last sprint, probably you have to think in a different way.

04:39But at the moment, I think you have to think like a long race.

04:43OK, we'll go to John, BBC.

04:45Just one more on the rotation.

04:47Defensively though, do you think it can be a problem?

04:50If you look at Arsenal, they've got the two centre-halves who play every week, they play every week together,

04:54they've got a connection there.

04:56Is that a problem for you, the consistency, that you haven't had that this season?

05:02I think, first of all, at the beginning of the season with the Levi injury, for sure we lost,

05:08I said many times in my view, in the way we want to play, our best defenders in terms of build-up.

05:14From there, we tried to find solutions, we tried to solve problems, we tried to adjust things.

05:20We were playing with the three at the back in the build-up, we started to play with two at the back in four or five games.

05:26So we tried to find solutions, different solutions.

05:29Last game, we kept clean sheet with Trev and Wes.

05:36They just said to me this morning that last year, after 11 Premier League games, we had two clean sheets.

05:44This season, after 10 games, we have already four clean sheets.

05:50So, I don't know.

05:54I was going to ask you about where you think you are at the moment.

05:56You've played ten games, you've got 17 points.

05:59Is that where you expected to be at this stage of the season?

06:04Or has it been a little bit more inconsistent than you hoped for?

06:08No, I think we tried to win all the games.

06:10Also, I can understand that this season, the expectation of race are on the team.

06:14Again, last year after 11 games, I think we had 19 points.

06:21If we are able to win tomorrow, we have more points this season compared to last season.

06:27So, do we have consistency or not?

06:31It's just a big difference for me personally, from this season and last season,

06:37is the expectation around the team.

06:39Because the numbers are there and we are probably – we can be even better than last season.

06:46But because the expectation raised, probably is a bit different.

06:49What is even better than last season?

06:52Is it for you just getting better or is it actually trying to compete for the league?

06:58Can you compete to win the league from the way you are now and what you've seen this season?

07:03Can you compete to try and win the league this season?

07:06I said many times, I don't like to think where we can be in April, May, June.

07:14I like to think how we can win tomorrow.

07:16This is the only target I have in my mind in this moment.

07:19And then after tomorrow game, we have international break and then we go again.

07:24But for me, if you want to try to compete, you have to think about the next one, next one, next one.

07:31And then again, when we need the last sprint in March, April, depends where we are and then we decide.

07:37Just one final one, you spoke about it earlier.

07:39I've spoken about this before.

07:41How concerned are you for coming, that he just cannot, because it seems to be able to string together?

07:46Yeah, it's a shame.

07:48It's a shame in this moment also because we are trying to minimise minutes for him.

07:56But even with that, it's injury again.

08:01But we need to insist until we don't find the right solution for him.

08:07OK, we'll go to Alex at PLP.

08:09Hi, Enzo.

08:10On tomorrow's game, you played them just over a week ago.

08:13What can you take from that game going into tomorrow's time at home?

08:18Yeah, first half very good, second half we struggled.

08:24But also they changed the manager, the one that is in charge now.

08:30So for sure some similarity, but at the end again, these are the games that we need to win.

08:44Because when you do the right things against Liverpool, when you do the right things against Tottenham,

08:48then you have to confirm that.

08:49You have to continue to do that.

08:52How much harder is it to prepare for a game against a manager as a team?

08:57No, it's difficult for this reason.

09:01Also it's difficult because, as I said, we played Wednesday night.

09:04Yesterday the players were off.

09:06We have a small session today and we have a game tomorrow.

09:09So it's all the game plan also that is different.

09:11But it's just we need to adapt.

09:14Everyone's talking about Steval.

09:16They have been all season.

09:18How long before he's starting the weekend recap?

09:21No, he's ready to start.

09:23For sure he's ready to start.

09:25But if Esteval starts, another one is on the bench.

09:29And probably the other one also wants to start.

09:31We just try to do the best for Esteval.

09:34We are helping him in terms of adapt to England.

09:38Again, last week he was complaining about too cold.

09:42Imagine in Maybach.

09:44Last week it was still October.

09:46Imagine December, January.

09:48He asked for that.

09:49He's happy, he's doing fantastic.

09:51And for sure he's a talented player for this club.

09:55What do you say to him when he says,

09:57I'm too excited.

09:58That was still hot.

10:00Finally, you've been nominated for the FIFA Best Men's Coach of the Year.

10:06What does that nomination mean to you and how do you reflect on your year personally?

10:11I'm very happy, first of all, because it's a nice moment.

10:16But again, it's because of the players, because at the end they play the game.

10:22Also, I think weeks ago, a month ago was the other nomination for the Ballon d'Or or Coach or something like this.

10:32And it's fantastic.

10:33It's good, it's nice to be there.

10:35But the most important thing at the end is how the players play the game.

10:41Thank you very much.

10:43OK, we'll do the last couple here.

10:44We'll go to Simon and finish with Martin.

10:46Enzo, just sort of, funny enough, on rotation but in a different way.

10:52Because of Lavi's injury and Asiga's injury,

10:55does this sort of hurt your chances of giving Casado a bit more of a rest than you obviously want to do?

11:02Absolutely, yes.

11:04When you have a chance to rotate also.

11:07And the other day, I think we said already two, three times that we have Casado,

11:13we have Enzo Fernandes, we have Pedro Neto, we have Joao Pedro, that they are all players.

11:18That they are not training every day because it's a small issue.

11:22So if we are able to give them some time off, rest, it's better.

11:28But in this moment, you see Moy the other day after five minutes, he was inside the pitch.

11:34Dario is injured in this moment.

11:35In the past, we used Andre Santos as a six.

11:38And Rhys is playing as a six.

11:43But for sure, when you have more options, it's better.

11:46And we'll finish this section with Martin.

11:48Can I talk about the long throw?

11:52Wolves were one of the teams that scored a goal against you from a long throw.

11:56But we admired what you did at Tottenham, where you put the three up and cleared the penalty area.

12:01That seemed to work very well.

12:03Were you happy with that?

12:04Is that something you'll use going forward?

12:06We are looking for a solution, as I said when we were conceding a goal.

12:16I guess Spurs works quite well.

12:19Hopefully it can work also tomorrow in case we need.

12:24But again, you find a solution to put three players up in the pitch.

12:28And probably they are adapting and do something different.

12:31As I said many times, it's like a chess game.

12:34You do something, the other one they do something different.

12:36You have always tried to be ready.

12:38Forgive me, I don't see every minute of every game.

12:40But I don't care to comment on your game expecting you to use the long throw.

12:45Is that something that you deliberately don't do?

12:48Rhys James was winding up a few times on West United but threw it short all the time.

12:52Do you have a long throw plan in your camp?

12:56Yes, we have.

12:58But not now.

13:00I said that I like to evolve as a coach.

13:03If the long throwing can be a solution we're going to use.

13:06At the moment, no.

13:08But we never know.

13:09You've got some that can throw it that long, have you?

13:12We need to try.

13:13I don't know yet.

13:14We need to try.

13:15I don't know yet.

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