The full transcript from Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca’s post-match press conference after his Blues side were beaten 3-1 away at Leeds United on Wednesday evening
Enzo Maresca has just finished speaking in his post-match press conference following Chelsea’s disappointing 3-1 defeat away at Leeds United.
Elland Road was bouncing at full-time with a memorable evening for the hosts, but for the Blues, it will be one they hope to forget sharply. Maresca just offered his thoughts on the game and below is the full transcript:
Why was that performance so much worse than the Barcelona and Arsenal displays?
Yeah, I think they were better than us in all the aspects. They deserved to win the game. There is nothing that we can take from this game. The only thing we can do is try to understand the mistake we have done, try to reset, because again in 48 hours we have one more game.
What do you think happened between the Arsenal game and today?
No, but it’s not because we performed so well against Arsenal or so well against Barcelona or so well the last month, that we are going to perform always in the same way. For different reasons it’s not possible, because of the situation that you have to manage, players that you have to rotate. So for sure, for different reasons, the level is not going to be always the same. When you come here away against any team, if you don’t perform 100%, the Premier League is tough against any team.
Does it sometimes confuse you where this kind of performance comes from after watching the last two games? And does it sort of emphasise how this team can’t really be trusted yet to be title contenders when they keep throwing in this sort of performance every now and then?
No, for sure when you play against the last two games against Barcelona and Arsenal, you expect better performance, no doubt. But for many reasons it’s not going to be possible for every game. Again, because we change players, because we have players that we said many times that for them it’s not possible to play every two, three days. And when you change players, also the level drop is the reality, because they are important players for us, but they can be important players for any team. Moi [Caicedo], Reece [James], Wes [Fofana], these kind of players. But we cannot use them every game. It’s impossible, because otherwise they can get injured again and be out for months and months and months.
Is there a concern then that the players that are coming in for them have got to do more in that regard?
I think tonight’s game there is no one that was at this level or the best level. I think all the teams, all the ones probably, Pedro [Neto], second half, Garna [Alejandro Garnacho], second half, they were our best players, because after we scored the goal we had two chances with Cole [Palmer] and with Joao [Pedro]. But then the third goal I think killed the game.
You say that Leeds were better in all aspects tonight. You said you’d go away and look at that. But your initial assessment as to why that might have been?
I hope that we had a bad night, because it’s a game that you struggle to find something that you can take from the game. I think, again, they were on the ball, off the ball, towards second ball, they were much better than us in all the aspects.
Do you feel you missed Moises Caicedo today?
I think, again, we missed Moi tonight, we’re going to miss Moi in the next game. He’s an important player. In the same way, even if the results were different, but in the same way we missed Cole, in the same way we missed players that for us are important. Moi is a player that for us is an important player for any team in the world, because he’s top.
Were you protecting Estevao Willian by taking him off at half-time? Scared he was going to get sent off?
I think the feeling with Estevao was a little bit, ‘welcome to Premier League, welcome to Leeds’. The impact for him must have been probably a big, big impact for him. The reason why we changed him is because he was already a yellow card. Sometimes when you are 18, you struggle to manage emotion, so it was better to change him and to avoid any red card.
