Enzo Maresca has identified one of Chelsea’s problems: the many goals conceded due to their habit of defending high. After the friendly defeat against Real Madrid, the Italian coach explained: “It’s a problem that we’ve been trying to solve since day one. One of the first lessons with the team was about the amount of goals conceded last year with a very high defensive line. It’s something we’re trying to work on, a problem of recent seasons: I’m trying to lower the line by 4-5 meters. In attack we play well, the patterns are there and we’ve created chances. The problem is in defense; when I say in defense I don’t just mean the defensive line, but in general, all the players. Now we return to London: we’ll face Inter and then the official matches will come”.
Is the team too big?
“We try to do our best. We had about 30 players here, but I think we work quite well in terms of managing the situation. We will try to do the same when we go back to England.”
Would it be ideal to thin out?
“At the moment it’s fine. We’ll have Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella, two more players. The others are following a different path at Cobham.”
Is Enzo Fernandez the vice-captain?
“Enzo is one of the most important players. To be honest, I think James gave the armband to Enzo when he was replaced. That shows how much Enzo is respected within the team. I think that’s pretty clear.”
Was Broja excluded because he was injured or because he could be sold?
“No, he wasn’t hurt, fortunately for him and for us. I don’t know if he’ll be released, we’ll see in the next two weeks.”
Will Nicolas Jackson, Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella be fit for the match against Inter or the one against Manchester City?
“We’ll see. I hope for the game against City. They are all important players. Between Cole and Nicolas they scored almost 40 goals last year, so they are both very important. And Marc too. The important thing is that they train with us soon.”