Enzo Maresca has been speaking about Chelsea playing against teams with five defenders on the pitch and the reasons why that has become more common in the early stages of this season
Enzo Maresca believes Chelsea are a victim of their own success and that has forced the head coach to throw his game-plan in the bin on multiple occasions this season.
Sunderland set up with a back five for the first time in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon as they stunned Chelsea, who won the Conference League and Club World Cup in Maresca’s debut season, with a win at Stamford Bridge. Earlier this month, Nottingham Forest, then managed by Ange Postecoglou who has since been sacked, also shocked Maresca by playing five defenders, although Chelsea ended up winning the match at the City Ground comfortably.
Given Chelsea’s array of attacking options and the threat they pose, teams are now paying the Blues more respect with how they set up, but that is proving difficult for Maresca.
When asked by football.london about how playing five-back formations influences Chelsea’s preparation, Maresca explained: “The thing that we need to improve and we need to learn, and it’s something that I’m saying to the players every day, is now that teams, probably because of what we achieved last season, teams have changed against us. Sunderland, nine games in the Premier League, they never played with a back five from the start. Never.
“They played nine games, I watched all the nine games from Sunderland before our game. Never. They finished with a back five, they were winning 1-0, so to defend the last 10 minutes, they had a back five. But from the start, never.
“So we prepared a Sunderland game against a back four, thinking that probably they will be a back five. So before the game, in the changing room, before the players go out for a warm-up, I need to tell the players, ‘Guys, all the Sunderland preparation, do like this, tac-tac-tac-tac, and put in the rubbish.’
“That’s why it’s so difficult. The plan for today, now, is this. In ten minutes, we need to change the plan. So it’s different when we know that team, they are back five, and we prepare with back five.
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“Four weeks ago, I was in London for the LMA award. I was with Ange [Postecoglou], before he took the job with Forest. We were speaking, and I said, ‘Ange, I’ve never seen your team play back five, apart from the last 10 minutes of the Europa League final against United’.
“He started to laugh, and he said, ‘I hate to play back five, but because it was the last 10 minutes, and we need to win the title, I said, ‘OK, I don’t care, we play back five’.
“We played Forest, it was a back five. And I prepared the game against a back four. So before the warm-up, before the play-out, guys, all the plan, rubbish, back five. This is difficult for the players. It’s not when you know that you play against a team, that they always play a back five. OK, we prepare all week, or two, three days, for how we can win the game. And we know how to win the game.
“The problem is when you face a team, that they are back four, arrive here, back five, sit back. It’s more complicated. This is the only difference.”
