Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca admitted he had to throw his entire game plan out the window against Leicester City after Ruud van Nistelrooy changed his formation.
The Foxes head coach added another defender to his starting 11 from the side that lost to West Ham with a change in system. Luke Thomas and Conor Coady joined Wout Faes in a back three with James Justin and Viktor Kristiansen at wing-back.
It's the first time Van Nistelrooy has moved away from the 4-2-3-1 used since his arrival in December. Leicester looked better defensively but it couldn't stop them from [falling to a 1-0 defeat thanks to Marc Cucurella's second-half strike.](http://Chelsea 1-0 Leicester City live reaction as van Nistelrooy's side fall to 12th defeat in 13)
Maresca celebrated the win passionately with his coaching staff at Stamford Bridge and the Italian explained how Van Nistelrooy's tweak was the reason for that. "Very happy. The main reason is because when we prepare for a game we watch as many games as possible," he said.
"So we watched almost every Leicester game since Ruud arrived - you can imagine how many games. They always play with a [defensive] line of four, they arrive here and a line of five. They completely changed the plan.
"So all the training sessions we have done to prepare for the game, they go. Rubbish. So you need a new plan. Before the players go out for their warm-up, we need to give them a new plan.
"This is the reason I was so happy, because the way the players adapt, it is something from the outside you struggle to see or understand. It was top.
Jamie Vardy and Enzo Maresca
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca with Leicester striker Jamie Vardy (Image: 2025 Plumb Images)
"You have to completely change your plan, the way you want to attack and the way you want to defend. So Leicester come here with a back five. The players have been so good this season in the way they have been adapting.
"The reason I was so happy, I feel really sorry for Leicester because I will always be thankful for them, but they came here thinking they can surprise us, but the players adapted."
Pressed if he noticed the tweak in the warm-ups, Maresca replied: "I don't watch warm-ups because sometimes they warm up with a line of four but play a line of five! My grandad did the exact same. I don't watch the warm-up.
"But when you see the first 11, you can realise sometimes and you could see they were a line of five. The players have been so good because before the warm-up, we said, 'OK guys, everything we have done in the last two or three days, forget about it. We have a new plan'. They have done fantastically."
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