Chelsea won a thrilling 4-3 victory over Tottenham at their stadium yesterday, and as you’d expect after the game, Enzo Maresca was delighted.
After the penalty to make it 4-2, it looks like Spurs were out of it, but Chelsea then got a little sloppy and allowed Spurs a late third which turned the final moments very nervy again.
Rather than criticise his players for switching off, in his interview after the game Maresca instead defended them by saying it was a natural thing to happen after so much effort put into the game:
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Cole Palmer after scoring a screamer against Aston Villa. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Enzo Maresca sits impassively as Chelsea thrash Southampton.
Enzo Maresca applauds the home fans. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
“Absolutely [you can’t switch off] until the final whistle, the game is always open, the game is always there. But I think because of the effort we made for 90 minutes, to concede something in the last 5 minutes is normal.”
You can see the manager’s comments in the clip embedded here, with these quotes coming after one minute:
Enzo Fernandez gets stuck in against Tottenham. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Enzo Fernandez gets stuck in against Tottenham. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Maresca lets his players off the hook – and with good reason
It’s interesting to see Maresca taking the route of being protective here. We’re sure he was as frustrated as any fan when his side let that third goal in and breathed fresh life back into a contest that had been over for a while at that point.
But as he knows, with 3 impressive points already in the bag thanks to a really gritty comeback, now was not the time to start digging out his players for a bad attitude. There’s a time and a place for being critical, and this was not it.
We’re sure once everyone is back on the training ground, later this week and the euphoria has worn off, they will take a closer look at how they can avoid putting themselves in such a hairy position next time.
They won’t always be able to rely on opposition defenders handing them two penalties.