“Absolutely nonsense” – Enzo Maresca slammed for what he told his Chelsea players
Former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol is not thrilled by some of Enzo Maresca’s recent comments following Chelsea’s 4-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Moving forward, Chelsea were quite impressive in their triumph over the Seagulls, with Cole Palmer scoring all four of his team’s goals.
They were shaky on defense. Enzo Maresca did not rebuke Robert Sanchez for making two expensive errors.
Maresca attempted to encourage Sanchez following his failures, even warning supporters to expect more errors at the back due to the team’s style of play.
After the Brighton game, Chelsea’s manager informed reporters that he had warned his players that playing out from the back would result in more goals conceded.
“I said to Robert and the players, ‘From now on, we are going to concede 10 more goals like the way we conceded the second goal’,” Maresca was quoted as saying by Goal. “It’s the way we want to play.”
In response to those comments, Nicol said on ESPN: “I’ll tell you what, that’s garbage. Seriously? I’ve never seen this [Maresca’s post-Brighton comments]. This is the first time I’ve seen it. That’s nonsense, that is absolutely nonsense.
“You know what’s happening? It’s one thing every now and again [for] somebody to make an error when you try to play the ball out and it’s actually on to play it out but they make a mess of it, that’s one thing. But to turn around and just say ‘I don’t care; this is what we do’ is nonsense.”
Enzo Maresca needs to find balance
Maresca has got this Chelsea team firing. With 15 goals to their name, they are the highest scorers in the Premier League.
They are shipping in goals, however, letting Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton all put two past them.
If Chelsea are going to continue playing out from the back, which you would expect after Maresca’s comments, then they probably will let in more silly goals like Carlos Baleba’s.
Maresca needs to minimise those errors and make his Chelsea side a more balanced one. Do that, and they could go on to have a very successful season. Jamie O’Hara already believes Chelsea can compete at the top this term.