Chelsea’s new head coach has explained what he plans to do at Chelsea this season and beyond, and he just hopes he can now find the time to implement his plans.
It’s not just about his style of play, which will also take time, he also wants to instill a culture at the club and he explained exactly what he means by that in his recent comments ahead of Manchester City’s season opener at Stamford Bridge today.
The Blues face City this afternoon in the opening match of their Premier League season and Maresca is keen to establish a culture of this kind at the club.
“The most important thing is that they are full of talent,” Maresca replied when asked about the young age of his team.
“But talent alone is not enough, we need more. That’s why we try to create a culture, not only on the field but also off it.
“This is the right culture.
“I try to defend my teammates when they have bad intentions. In one of the friendly matches, one of the opponents kicked one of our players hard and the rest of our players stood around our player to defend him. That doesn’t mean that I’m there from the start, but I go close and defend my teammate.”
“To become a team, you need that. You need more closeness, more friendship. On the field, you have to defend each other like brothers, otherwise you’ll have problems. It’s not just: ‘OK, we’re good players, that’s enough.’ That’s not enough.”
