“Luis Enrique said the same to me” – Enzo Maresca reveals what Luis Enrique said to him about his Chelsea squad
Enzo Maresca and his side have had a wonderful start to the season, which only means one thing: growing expectations.
The Italian coach is doing his best to lower expectations, but it’s only inevitable that they’ll rise. That is unavoidable given that even his players are breaking ranks and claiming to be aiming for the top four.
But that is a rather modest goal. What Maresca was questioned about in his news conference today was competing with Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of the league, and he was careful to keep expectations under control.
Maresca plays down title talk
“I really don’t think we can compete with City or Arsenal,’ Maresca said. ‘I really don’t think that because we are not ready. The reason is City has worked with the same manager for nine years and Arsenal, five years. If you want to compete for big things, you need that time.
“After Arsenal beat PSG, they asked Luis Enrique and he said the same: that Arsenal have had the same manager for five years and us, a year-and-a-half. Now imagine us, three months.”
The PSG comparison is interesting – they’re also in the middle of a major rebuild using a lot of young players. Nobody would call them a small team, and like us they’ve got a huge budget and have spent big money, but they’re also moving to a new phase, and it will be interesting to compare the projects side by side.
We can understand Maresca wanting to keep everyone calm, but still, he could certainly be a little more positive than this. In any case, this kind of talk only comes around when a team is doing really well, so as frustrating as it will be for him to have to deal with it, it’s a very positive sign.