Chelsea’s Maresca on Palmer injury setback and Burnley test (Full Presser)

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca confirmed Cole Palmer had suffered and injury setback and also discussed what he expects from their Premier League clash with Burnley Cobham, London, UK

Transcript

00:00Okay, good morning and thank you for joining us.

00:22We will take the usual format today, beginning with a broadcast section.

00:27Please do raise your hands if you'd like a question, and we'll begin with Gail Davis and Sky Sports News.

00:34Off you go, Gail.

00:38Morning.

00:40Morning.

00:41I saw a good picture of Cole Palmer on social media in a dressing room with his little egg timer,

00:47suggesting that he could well be back.

00:50Where is he?

00:51Where did he go for you?

00:52He's probably not available for tomorrow for sure, Barcelona for sure, Arsenal for sure.

01:05Unfortunately, he had an accident at home two days ago,

01:10and he hit his toe, but it's nothing important, but for sure he's not back next week.

01:28Sorry, he hit his toe at home?

01:30Yeah.

01:31Any more details?

01:33I think it's enough.

01:35It's enough.

01:36So we're looking at what, a week and a half more?

01:40We don't know.

01:41The only thing we know that it's not available is fracture, fracture, yeah.

01:47The only thing we know is that it's not available for this week, next week.

01:52How frustrated is he, given it's a huge week for Chelsea, and given how long he's spent on the sidelines?

02:03Yeah, but it can happen.

02:04It can happen.

02:05I wake up many times during the night, you know, to go to the toilet,

02:09and I eat my head, my leg, my everything, so it can happen.

02:14You're not going to miss Bank Barcelona and Arsenal, though.

02:16Not now, not now.

02:17Can you just confirm as well, the Sassi reports that he is now part of your first team squad,

02:26he's no longer in that squad, is that the case?

02:31And if so, what's he done to earn his place back?

02:35Can you just clarify if Sterling was still just the only one that came to play himself now?

02:41Yeah, I said many times that Axel Rahim, at the end, they are Chelsea players,

02:46where Axel is helping the second team, he's helping the young players.

02:52During the international break, we had just five, six players here,

02:56so we need some second team players,

03:00and Axel was part of some session with the second team players,

03:07but I think it was just one session with us.

03:11So that's, A, he's not actually part of your first team squad going forward?

03:17At the moment, he's helping second team, he's working with second team,

03:22and he's there with second team.

03:24So that's a no, then?

03:26It's Chelsea player, and he's with second team.

03:28Okay, and in terms of Sterling, he's still out of the picture?

03:33Rahim, again, he's Chelsea player, and he's in the same situation.

03:37Can you just talk to us about Norgensen as well?

03:42I mean, clearly Denmark aren't had a World Cup yet,

03:44but there were reports coming out in their camp

03:46saying that if they are to make it, then he needs a bit more game time.

03:51Has he spoken to you about the prospect of maybe looking for a move in January

03:57if Denmark are to be part of the World Cup?

04:00I spoke with Philippe at the beginning of the season,

04:05and I didn't speak with Philippe in the last days about that.

04:10I think all the players that they don't play a lot,

04:14or they don't use to play,

04:15they would like to get more minutes, more games.

04:18It's completely normal.

04:19But I didn't speak with Philippe.

04:23Just finally, how's Estevelle this week?

04:25He was a bit cold, and it was about 7 degrees.

04:28He's got his thermals on, smooth gloves, muted socks.

04:32Yeah, he's back from the international team

04:38where he scored two goals.

04:39He's very happy, and we are very happy with him.

04:43Thank you, Gail.

04:44Soraya?

04:45Morning.

04:46I want to talk about Mullen Gusteau.

04:48His 99th appearance could be tomorrow.

04:51Every time he started, he won six games in the Premier League,

04:54and he's had a great international break with France.

04:56This season.

04:57Every time.

04:58Last season?

04:59Yeah.

05:00You don't know, eh?

05:02He played wide, full-back, midfield.

05:05We've spoken previously about that,

05:07when he ends up in the 10th position.

05:09There's been some criticism on that,

05:10but your patience has paid off.

05:11He's clearly learning.

05:13Is this the vision you always thought?

05:14Because he seems to be in a quite consistent form right now.

05:16Absolutely, yes.

05:18We've said many times that for us,

05:21Mullen is the main player in the way we want to play.

05:25He can play in different positions.

05:28You already know that we like players that they can give us,

05:32you know, we can be dynamic with them.

05:35Mullen is one of them.

05:36And we are very happy with Malo.

05:42Personally, since I joined the club,

05:44I consider Malo, for us, a main player.

05:47Your midfield has had, again, positive and negative this season.

05:54But in your last game against Wolves,

05:56progressive passing, they've had 18 progressive carries,

05:59which is the most of any Premier League game this season,

06:01in the midfield.

06:03What kind of decision-making now are you hoping to see tomorrow against Burnley?

06:06Because there will be different spaces available for this midfield.

06:09Yeah, it will be a different game.

06:11We know that every game is different.

06:13Probably tomorrow we need to use different strategy,

06:16different weapons.

06:20No doubt that it's going to be, again, a tough game,

06:24especially after international break,

06:25after 12 in the morning, you know, away.

06:28It's always a tricky game.

06:31We need to pay attention.

06:33And lastly, there's been noticeable progress in your counter-pressing.

06:36Your recovery time has actually increased,

06:39so when you lose the ball,

06:41you get it back to live several seconds,

06:43which is the highest it's been on the EU.

06:45What do you think has been key to that improvement?

06:49Probably the time that we spend together.

06:51We said many times that with more time together,

06:54we're going to be better and better.

06:57It's something that we have in the way we want to recover the ball

07:04as soon as possible.

07:06Sometimes it's possible,

07:08sometimes it's not possible

07:09because the other team, they do different things.

07:12But for sure, it's something that we are getting better

07:14and we can be even better.

07:17Thanks, Soraya.

07:19Nizar?

07:20In terms of Cole Palmer,

07:23you were speaking about his toe,

07:24but how is his grinding dream?

07:26Is that something you're still managing in terms of fitness

07:28or is he 100% better from the groin injury perspective?

07:31He was very close,

07:34he was back with us almost with the groin

07:36and it's very good news.

07:39And then again,

07:40he had this small problem

07:42and hopefully it's nothing important.

07:44Do you think that he has enough time

07:47in terms of an England perspective

07:48because the World Cup is going to be a huge target for him,

07:51but Thomas Tuchel says he has Bellingham,

07:53he has Bill Foden,

07:54he has Morgan Rodgers,

07:55they're all playing well.

07:56Do you think that Cole can get into that group

07:59and sort of take one of the England places before the World Cup?

08:02For me personally,

08:04Cole is one of our best players

08:08and no doubt that for me personally,

08:13he can play in any international team,

08:15but then it's Thomas' decision.

08:17In terms of the other injuries you had in the squad,

08:20I wondered if Caicedo played two 90 minutes for Ecuador,

08:23is he a doubt for tomorrow?

08:25And how is Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernandes and Benoit Badi?

08:29Moet came back last night,

08:31I didn't see Moet yet,

08:33so I will see Moet now in a while,

08:35but he's good,

08:38Benoit is back,

08:40he can be available for tomorrow,

08:41that's great news for us,

08:43and then Enzo Pedro,

08:45they used the international break

08:46to recover a little bit of the energy,

08:48also to recover from the injury,

08:52the problems they had,

08:53and they are both available for tomorrow.

08:57Thanks Nizar, Simon?

08:59Simon is posting it up on social media,

09:02Enzo, is Cole wearing a protective boot

09:06or is he just sort of putting his foot up,

09:08or how has he been looked after?

09:11The last time I saw him was yesterday morning,

09:14and he was without socks, without flip-flop,

09:20he was without nothing,

09:21so I don't know how he's today to be honest,

09:23I didn't see him in the changing room.

09:27He was limping around, he was OK?

09:29He was limping, no, not too much,

09:33no, he was walking OK,

09:34the problem is that it's the small toe,

09:36so the contact with the boots

09:38probably can be a little bit painful.

09:40And is the one sort of bright side that you can think about,

09:44is that I know you've always said,

09:47Chelsea are better with Cole obviously.

09:49No doubt.

09:50But since Cole's been out,

09:52Chelsea have climbed third in the table

09:54and done pretty well with that,

09:55so that means that you might think that you can...

09:59Absolutely not.

10:01I'm nothing here, I don't think that.

10:03I think that the teammates, they are better players with Cole playing.

10:11I feel much better when Cole is inside the pitch,

10:15and we all want Cole inside the pitch,

10:17at the same time when Cole is not in the pitch,

10:19we need to find a solution,

10:21and the team is doing fantastic,

10:25he's doing very well.

10:25Also, I think for any manager,

10:31it's nice when you miss players,

10:33but at the end the team still play in the way we want to play,

10:37it's good.

10:39But again, we are a better team with Cole.

10:44Thanks Simon.

10:44And we'll finish with David.

10:48Obviously, before the international break,

10:50the team seems to grow.

10:51You have Berlina, then Barcelona,

10:53then Madrid, again in the Premier League.

10:54What are you most happy about the growth of your team since the beginning of the season?

11:02Probably dealing with different problems has been important,

11:07because, you know, everyone is talking about Cole, because it's normal,

11:11but also we had Leon Delap two months out.

11:14I said many times in the way I like to play as a manager, our best defender in build-up,

11:30Levi Cole will out since day one.

11:33So it's not just Cole, it's Cole, it's Levi, it's Liam, it's Enzo out, Pedro out,

11:38Moet out.

11:39So the way the team is dealing with problems is very good.

11:43I'm pretty sure you think the team needs to grow a little bit more to go to the goals,

11:49you want to reach at the end of the season.

11:51What do you expect in these next few games?

11:54So important games against Barcelona, one of the best teams in Europe,

11:57what are the best teams in the Premier League coming next Sunday?

12:01Just try to continue to play in the way we want to play.

12:08As you said, for sure they are a big team.

12:11But I was also happy with the performance against Bayern Munich, even if I was not happy with the result.

12:21But to go there against a team that in the last five, six, seven years,

12:25they always play semi-final, final, quarter-final, and to go there and play face-to-face,

12:32for the moment of the game we were quite good.

12:36So I want just to see the team in that way, with the personality,

12:40and also the belief that we can, I think, we show already that we can beat any team

12:46and also we can lose against any team.

12:49Thank you, Davide.

12:50OK, cameras off, please.

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