Enzo Maresca wants his players to fight for each other like a family on the pitch ahead of our Premier League opener against Manchester City this afternoon.
Our new head coach will take charge of his first competitive match for Chelsea when we host the reigning Premier League champions in our opening game of the 2024/25 season at Stamford Bridge.
Looking ahead to the team’s future – both in this game and throughout the coming season – Enzo Maresca insists it will take more than just ability to meet his and the club’s expectations.
“I’ve been saying that ever since we started,” Maresca explained. “Nowadays in football, talent is not enough, you need more. That’s why we try to create the right culture on the field and off the field. We want to create something important that is not just: ‘This player is good and that’s enough.'”
“That’s not enough, especially when you’re wearing a Chelsea shirt. You need extra things and extra behaviours. That’s what we’re trying to build a little bit.”
“It’s small details that you can see. In one of our friendly matches, an opposing player kicked one of our players hard and nobody was there to defend our player.
“I analyze these things and we want a culture where our players defend their teammates when something bad is done to them. That doesn’t mean I go up and start fighting, but I get close and defend my teammate.
“That’s what you need to become a team. That’s what you need. The players have to be close together, like brothers on the pitch, ready to defend each other. Otherwise you have problems, because being good players is not enough.”
The Italian also discussed the key areas of his football philosophy, while emphasising the depth and range of talent he has at his disposal on the Blues’ bench for the new season.
“In our system there are positions that are very important. For example, we have the two defensive midfielders Moi (Caicedo) and Romeo (Lavia) who can play together. We can use some of the guys like Malo (Gusto) and Reece (James) in that position, also Marc Cucurella.
“Then in the pocket positions we have Cole (Palmer), who can play there or out wide, Christo (Nkunku) can play inside, Enzo (Fernandez) can play in the pocket.
“And in terms of wingers, we have wingers who are good one-on-ones like Misha (Mudryk) and in defence we have defenders who are very good at build-up like Levi (Colwill). So there are some positions where I think we have very good players.”
So Maresca will have some difficult decisions to make as he names his first Premier League squad for the Blues ahead of their match against Manchester City at 4.30pm today at the Bridge.
