Joe Cole believes Chelsea winning the Conference League final on Wednesday will go a long way in helping the squad achieve their long-term targets.
Enzo Maresca has led the Blues to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League to bring Champions League football back to SW6 for the first time in two seasons. The Italian has had an impressive debut season as Chelsea head coach and winning the Conference League final against Real Betis on Wednesday evening would be a much welcome bonus for the players and coaching staff.
The Blues appointed Maresca as head coach last summer to replace Mauricio Pochettino, who was given less than 12 months in the dugout at Stamford Bridge. Pochettino was only ever given a two-year deal at the club and there was always going to be a review at the end of his debut season, whereas Maresca was tied down to a five-year contract with the Italian seen as the perfect man to spearhead BlueCo’s ambitious project.
The season’s main target was to qualify for the Champions League once again and that has already been achieved. Winning a trophy, though, will help build the experience of this young squad; a lot of whom have not won a major honour during their career thus far.
Cole, who won nine major honours during his time at Stamford Bridge, knows all too well about what winning your first piece of silverware can do for a squad. Speaking exclusively in an interview with football.london, Cole recalled his first trophy at Chelsea and also detailed the positive impact it will have on this group of players under Jose Mourinho.
“Ah, it’s amazing,” Cole said, reminiscing about winning the League Cup in 2005 against Liverpool in Cardiff. “Yeah, it’s an amazing feeling. Like, you don’t realise how many professional footballers are out there in the world, and most of them don’t win anything. It’s certainly not in the top leagues.
“So for us, I was 21, 22 maybe. Hadn’t won anything apart from in the Intertoto Cup, and it was just a joy to do it. It was a great game in Cardiff against Liverpool. Dramatic. [Steven] Gerrard own goal. It was scrappy, dramatic, like some finals are. But it was just beautiful to do it. And it gives you something as a team.
“We went on to win the league that year. And you just, you feel like you’ve sort of worked out the Rubik’s Cube. You know how to do it. I don’t know what it does for you, but it does something for you. So it’s important.”
The former England international continued: “I think it will go a long way to helping them. Chelsea fans are used to winning trophies. So the standards are where they want to be, what they want to do.
“So it will help him, of course. And I think Chelsea fans now, I feel like they can start to see what he’s trying to do. And he’s adjusting. And I think he talks well. Yeah, I think it will help.
“Whether it means that they’ll go on a reign of success that Chelsea went on post that, I don’t know. But it will give them something as players and a belief. A little piece of the jigsaw. They’ll start walking around with a little bit more of a swagger and it will help.”
Chelsea have used the Conference League this season as a platform for their fringe players and academy stars to showcase their talents, but with the final on Wednesday evening, there could be temptation from Maresca’s side to field his strongest possible team. The likes of Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George have now established themselves as first team players after being given consistent opportunities in Europe this season, but it is unclear whether they will be given a chance in Wroclaw.
Similarly, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, signed for £30million from Leicester City last summer, has played his best football in a Chelsea shirt in the Conference League. The 26-year-old midfielder made just 13 appearances across the course of the Premier League campaign but has played all 14 matches for the Blues in Europe (including the two-legged playoff tie).
“I think they’ve got to, he’s got to play a stronger side,” Cole said when asked about the XI Maresca should field in Poland. “And that might mean Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall playing. Because you’re going to need somebody who’s a little bit… I think he’s been fantastic, first of all, through this competition. It might mean he starts this game because he’s right for this game. Because you’re going to have to… [Romeo] Lavia’s not playing, first and foremost.
“So Enzo [Fernandez] and [Moises] Caicedo, they’re going to be probably number one and number two. You don’t know whether he’s going to play Caicedo at right-back. Reece James has been playing in midfield. He’s just got to play stronger side, whoever that may be.”
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