Enzo Maresca has admitted that he nearly made several changes after just 15 minutes during the infancy of his Chelsea career.
The Blues have played well under the Italian this season and sit second in the Premier League, seven points behind league leaders Liverpool.
With Chelsea fans thrilled with how they're team are playing this season, Maresca has seen the travelling support back their manager with his own chant after an improvement on last season.
However, Maresca has not been entirely happy with his side, who he insists are not in the Premier League title race this season.
Speaking to the press ahead of Chelsea's trip to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Maresca revealed that he nearly made changes just 15 minutes into his side's 5-1 thrashing of Southampton.
"I said I was upset the first 15 to 20 minutes because we were wrong in the way we were pressing," he said.
Chelsea came out 5-1 winners despite a poor start against Southampton.
Chelsea came out 5-1 winners despite a poor start against Southampton. / IMAGO / Pro Sports Images
"Until the first goal or second goal I called some of the players on the bench because we needed to change.
"Southampton, even with four points, if you don't press them higher man-to-man, you struggle to recover the ball because they are very good. We were wrong. We scored five, we could've scored more."
Maresca opted to make seven changes from his side that beat Aston Villa 3-0 just days earlier, with Chelsea continuing their fine form in front of goal.
Christopher Nkunku and Joao Felix impressed when they were handed the opportunity, leaving Maresca with some key decisions to make during the busy December period.
If Chelsea come through the month with a good set of results, the Blues could be on course to launch a title charge towards the second half of the campaign despite Maresca's denial.
A devastating win against rivals Spurs could see more pressure on their boss Ange Postecoglou while Chelsea are in dreamland with Maresca at the helm, as the Blues are further ahead in their project than anyone could have expected compared to results this time last year.
Maresca revealed that the difference between him and his predecessors is the fact that he is taking time to learn how to improve his players and working day by day to do so.