Enzo Maresca has insisted that Chelsea had some positives in their dreadful first half performance against Newcastle which saw the Blues 2-0 down after 45 minutes.
Chelsea had positives in first half performance claims manager
Peter Crouch and Joe Cole chat before kick off.
Peter Crouch and Joe Cole chat before kick off.
The home team could have been 4 or 5 up if they had put away their chances, but instead it was Chelsea who came out strong in the second half and clawed back a point. Maresca claimed he had been more positive than most fans and pundits at the break:
“The second half we were much better. [At half time I said] even if the first half looked strange, my feeling was we were still in the game. And we just needed to score one. We are in the game, if we can just score one. There was something in the first half I liked, even if we were 2 goals down.”
We’re not sure what he saw he that liked – we can’t remember a worse 45 minutes from the team. But there’s no doubt he got them up for the second half.
On Reece James, Maresca said his full back is “top level” and “playing very good” after the captain started the comeback with a stunning free kick, continuing a string of very high level outings from the academy star.
“Off the pitch, he’s helping many of the young players we have, so yeah I’m very happy with him.”
You can see Maresca speaking in the clip embedded here:
“There’s not many teams that can come back from 2–0 down at this stadium.”
Enzo Maresca applauds his players after their second-half performance against Newcastle 👏@lynseyhipgrave1 | @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/mYe3g9oIwV
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 20, 2025
In other news…
Alejandro Garnacho played his part in a hectic game, but his sheer inefficiency in the final third was very frustrating for fans.
Reece James changed the game with his free kick after half time, and he spoke to TNT Sport about how he had learned to be such an expert.
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