Working under Pep Guardiola, new Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has quickly been recognised as a coach who wants his side to retain possession.
In Chelsea‘s 4-1 defeat to Celtic on Saturday, though, Enzo Maresca‘s men hardly put in a dominant performance.
Robert Sanchez also went long with a lot of his balls, something you would not expect from a goalkeeper playing in a team who are trying to retain possession.
The Spaniard has started both of Chelsea’s first two pre-season games so far but could actually be replaced between the sticks in the new campaign.
Chelsea are about to sign Filip Jorgensen from Villarreal, which is not a positive development for Sanchez.
Enzo Maresca reveals what he told Robert Sanchez to do in Celtic defeat
While Maresca may be the kind of manager who wants to see his team play the ball short and retain it, it was the Italian who told Sanchez to go long in the 4-1 loss to Celtic.
When asked if it was him who told the 26-year-old to be direct, Maresca said to football.london and other outlets: “Yeah because they were marking us man-to-man; the idea was to try and find some solution in behind but it is something we prepared on the tactical board and didn’t try in the training session.
“The reason why is because we are trying so many things and we don’t have enough time to try everything. We started just 15 or 20 days ago.”
Despite the imminent arrival of a new goalkeeper at Stamford Bridge, Sanchez still appears to be happy.
Sanchez recently spoke about Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and how well he is getting along with the new Chelsea signing.
Patience needed with Enzo Maresca after first loss
Maresca was only appointed as the new Chelsea manager in June, meaning that he has not been coaching this group of players for too long.
It is going to be a while before his football is truly on display. The 44-year-old needs to be given time.
Whether Chelsea supporters and the club owners are going to give him that remains to be seen. Being handed an initial five-year contract, you would hope so.
But with Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital having already sacked both Graham Potter and Thomas Tuchel, Maresca is also going to have to pick up points while teaching his players his philosophy.
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