Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on Reece James injury and going back to former club Leicester (Full Presser)

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca gave an update on the injury situation at the club including a setback for Reece James and previewed the return to his former club Leicester Cobham, London, UK

Transcript

00:30Good afternoon all. We will take the usual format and begin with Sky Sports and James Cole.

00:38Hi Enzo. How are things looking on the injury front? There were a few knocks before the international break.

00:43Sancho, Gustavo, Kovane, Javier, how's everyone now?

00:47We have for sure just one injury player, that is Rhys.

00:56Unfortunately he felt something small and we don't want to take any risk for the weekend.

01:02So he's the only one for sure that is not available for this weekend.

01:06The rest, some of them they are better, some of them they are still in doubt.

01:10And also we need to wait, because today is the first session that we do with all the players from the international team.

01:18So we'll see after today's session.

01:21You say it's small, what area of his body?

01:24It's the hamstring and it's a muscular problem.

01:32We don't want to take any risk for this weekend, so hopefully it's not something long.

01:42In terms of going back to the King Power Stadium, facing your former club, how are you feeling about it?

01:48First of all excited and also thankful, because it was a fantastic season.

01:56I met there people that are very difficult to find in football.

02:00The owner, his family, they are fantastic people, fantastic human beings.

02:06They care for players, staff, all the people that work inside the club.

02:14And you can see that.

02:16The Sport Director, John Ruttgen, to be honest.

02:19It was a fantastic season, first of all, because I met good people.

02:23And then in terms of players, it was top, it was fantastic.

02:30There was a fantastic connection between the players and the staff.

02:35And I think this is something that also you need to create when you want to reach something important.

02:42I will be thankful always, all my life, to that squad.

02:47Because, first of all, most of them, I'm still in contact with them.

02:51So we have a special connection.

02:55For me it was a fantastic season.

02:58From a tactical point of view, can it help with you knowing the team and the players so well?

03:03Probably it's on the other side.

03:05They know exactly what we do.

03:08So it's on both sides.

03:12But we're going to try to adjust small things, small details, to see if we can do something different.

03:23But I think it's more from their side that they know us better than we know them.

03:32Because we are watching the game that they are playing.

03:35The international break always gives you a chance to assess, take things in and then look forward.

03:41Going forward to this next phase of the season, what's the biggest improvement you want to see?

03:46Some people point to defence, but what do you feel it is?

03:50I said many times, we can attack better and we can defend better.

03:56But in the Premier League there are only four clubs, or five probably, that they concede less than us.

04:02So that means that probably also defending, we are doing quite well.

04:06Now if people think that we are not going to concede a goal, I said many times, it's PlayStation, it's not football.

04:12We are going to concede a goal until the end, for sure, 100%.

04:16And we decide in which way we concede the goal.

04:19But at the end, you are going to concede a goal, yes or yes.

04:22But there are just four or five clubs, teams, that they concede less than us.

04:26So I don't know why people are thinking that we are defending bad.

04:31Now if you ask me, for sure, 100%, there are many things that we can do better defensively, no doubt.

04:36But also offensively, in both situations.

04:39Do you know your best defence? Because the centre-backs have been fairly consistent, but your full-backs have changed quite a bit.

04:46Yes, but also we changed full-back in the way we are going to play, because we use the full-back a lot.

04:51We don't move the centre-defender. Hopefully one day we can start to move the centre-defender.

04:55But in this moment we are moving the full-backs, and probably this is the reason why we are changing them.

05:02But overall it's not just about the defence, it's the way we press, and we defend all together.

05:09Soraya?

05:10Hello. How much does international break performances factor into players actually starting at Chelsea?

05:16We've seen Felix take his chance with Portugal, and you mentioned Felix and Palma potentially playing in the Pockets together soon.

05:24Yes, this could be a target for the future, to see both of them play together.

05:32The international break is good, first of all, for the ones that don't go with the international team to recovery.

05:39And the ones that go with the international team, some of them, like Joao, did fantastic.

05:45But Joao has been doing fantastic with us since day one.

05:48As I've said many times, the only problem is to try to find balance when we try to prepare the game.

05:55And then it's for us, but it's for all the club after international break.

06:00There's always a little bit of doubt because you don't know how they come back.

06:03As I said, today is the first session, 48 hours before the game, that we work with the 12, 13, 14 players that were with the international team.

06:12We need to see how they come back. Some of them came back this morning from Argentina, from South America.

06:17So it's not easy, but we'll see. We still have time, 48 hours.

06:21As you said, when Caicedo and Enzo have a limited time to train after travelling so long, and you have to protect Lavia,

06:27in your mind they seem to be your main midfielders that you start in the Premier League.

06:31Who do you think in the team can also replicate the double pivot and have those attributes?

06:36Renato did, Vega did in some games, but he also played 180 minutes with Portugal.

06:43In the cup, Cesare, to be honest, did very well, but he also played both games with Italy under 21.

06:50So, for sure, the ones that they are going to play, they are not going to be 100%, because they are human beings.

07:00And when you play two games in South America and you come back and you have to play again,

07:03even if you are 20 years old, 25, it doesn't matter. You are tired, you are a human being.

07:09But hopefully we can find the right balance.

07:12And you spoke previously about some of the trickiest games being the ones that everyone expects you to win.

07:17And you spoke about how this young squad are very professional and focused in those games.

07:21Leicester's next. How do you ensure that that mentality remains when the media and everyone thinks,

07:27yeah, Chelsea should be in the next game?

07:29No, it's not an easy game, absolutely.

07:34And you can see week after week that it's always complicated.

07:38No matter which team, where you are in the table, you struggle.

07:42But we are going to try to make sure that we are focused, we are prepared.

07:47And we, as I said many times, we are going to try to prepare to win the best way and try to win.

07:54Hi, Enzo. With Rhys, is it a case of maybe he'll play a few games and then there might be a small injury problem

08:00until he's fully over his injury problems?

08:02Is it kind of expected that he'll have setbacks before he'll be fully fit for a long period?

08:10No, as I said, he felt something, he has to be out for sure this weekend.

08:18And then we'll see. At the moment we don't know for how long. And then we'll see.

08:23Do you think you can get him on the pitch for a long period of time, like several months, where he has no problems?

08:29For sure. But at this moment it's not happening. But hopefully it could happen soon.

08:35And the other thing that I wanted to ask you is, on international duty, Harry Kane was speaking about England players

08:41and commitment, and obviously Palmer and Caldwell pulled out.

08:45Can you just talk a bit about the conversations that Chelsea had with England about those two players and how are they doing?

08:51To be honest, we play Arsenal and then I left for one week.

08:55So I don't know how was the conversation between the club and the international team.

08:58But how are they? Are they okay, those two players?

09:01As I said, yes, some of them are better, some of them we text today.

09:05But overall, for sure, they are much better.

09:11Just back on Reece, was it in training during the international break that you said?

09:17No, yesterday, two days ago. Yesterday we were off, two days ago.

09:22And how was he in terms of it? It must be hard for him mentally to keep having these setbacks.

09:33I know that it's not easy, but if every time he's getting an injury it becomes hard for him, for me it's even worse.

09:40He has to accept that and he has to try to avoid as much as he can.

09:47But sometimes things happen, even if you want to avoid that.

09:52As I said, this weekend he's not available, hopefully he can be the next one.

09:56Anyway, now we start to play every three days, so probably it's difficult that he could be available for...

10:02Anyway, conference game, he's not in the squad at the moment.

10:06He's in the squad but he's not playing, but hopefully he can be available soon.

10:11And just on Leicester, do you really feel like you're a better coach since you joined Chelsea,

10:18given everything you've experienced? No slight on Leicester obviously,

10:21but you've already become a better coach with everything you've had to deal with at Chelsea,

10:25you've gone up another level.

10:27To be honest, I work every day to become better.

10:30And so I hope that because I like to see things, analyse, you can improve.

10:39We try every time to improve players, but also we need to improve us as a staff, as a manager.

10:46So in my case I try to improve every day.

10:53And hopefully, I don't know if I'm better or worse,

10:56but the important thing is that I'm always curious to see things and to study.

11:05So this is the only thing that I'm focused on.

11:09And how much time during the international break did you...

11:12I think you said you were going to watch Chelsea games, etc.

11:15How much time did you spend working or could you actually switch off?

11:20No, I took until Thursday, we played Arsenal at home,

11:24and I took until Thursday completely off.

11:27And then from Thursday we start again.

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