Maresca on Chelsea's trip to Southampton

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Maresca on Chelsea's trip to Southampton  03/12/2024  Cobham Training centre, Surrey, Uk

Transcript

00:00Right, good morning.

00:25We don't have any update at the moment in terms of what happened two days ago, so we

00:41need to wait a little bit and hopefully we can get some more news in the next days, but

00:47for sure he will be out for the next weeks for sure.

00:54It's the same situation more or less, it's getting better, but he needs still weeks to

00:59come back.

01:00In terms of Parno, how big a hole does that leave you defensively and will Benoit, Badia

01:06Schilt be the most likely replacement in the short term?

01:10Depends a little bit on the game plan, Benoit could be one of the solutions, but we have

01:15also Tosin, we have Axel, we have different players that they can play there, and for

01:21sure it's a big loss because Wes, he was doing fantastic every game, but we need to

01:28accept that, we need to find different solutions.

01:30We've seen you rotate in midweek in Europe and in the League Cup, will that be the plan

01:38again this week?

01:39I don't know.

01:40We had yesterday's session where the guys, the players that they played two days ago,

01:44they are recovering, the rest we had session, but now this afternoon we have one more session

01:50and then we decide.

01:51You said consistently that you're not in the title race, do you still maintain that?

01:58Absolutely, yeah.

01:59Your level though, on points, Angola's scored, Angola's conceded with Arsenal, who are in

02:05the title race, so what's the difference?

02:07That they have been there in the last two years, very close to City, and we were very

02:12far to City.

02:13You're not doing it to protect your players, take the pressure off?

02:18No, no.

02:19I said to be in the title race is nice pressure for me and for the players, it's not that

02:25kind of pressure that you don't like, it's that kind of pressure that you like because

02:29you are in the title race, but it's not our case, and the reason why I said, because Arsenal

02:35in the last two years, they were very, very, very close to City, Liverpool.

02:40They have been there, and we were not there, and as I said, hopefully soon we can be there.

02:48Hi Enzo, a word on Southampton, you beat them very comfortably with Leicester last

02:55season, what are you expecting from tomorrow's game?

03:01It's the worst game since we started the season for us, and it will be the tough game since

03:07we started the season.

03:09We need to be ready, otherwise it will be a bad day for us, and the reason why is because

03:17if you analyse the results, probably they are there, but in terms of performance, they

03:22were winning against Liverpool, they lost against City 1-0, they drew the last game

03:28against Brighton, and the way they play since last year, because as you said, I was in the

03:35Championship with Southampton last year, I know them quite well, they are very brave,

03:42and it's very clear what they want, they want to keep the ball, we want the same, and

03:47yeah, for sure it will be a tough, tough game, and we need to be ready.

03:52Just a quick word on Van Nistelrooy, you mentioned that you spoke with him before he joined Leicester,

03:58can you tell us a bit more about your relationship with him, and what you said to him in that conversation?

04:03No, Rudy is a friend of mine, I already said here before we faced Man Utd, he called me

04:10days ago before he took over there, and we had a conversation, I told him that Leicester

04:20is a fantastic club, first of all because there are fantastic people, and for sure it's

04:29a good club, and then at the end he decided to go, and this was our conversation.

04:35Nizam?

04:36Hi Enzo, I wanted to talk about you as a player, when did you start believing you could win

04:41trophies when you were a player, was it being in that Juventus dressing room, or was it

04:45the way you grew into Sevilla and then became a bigger player, when did you believe you

04:50could be a title-winning player?

04:52No, for sure Juventus shaped me a lot in terms of winning mentality, first of all because

05:01I had two managers there, one was Lippi and the other one was Ancelotti, both were winners,

05:07and the squad at that time was a winner squad, even now anyway, but at that time it was a

05:13winner squad, and you can smell day by day the desire to win games and the desire to

05:21win trophies.

05:22Do you use those experiences when you're a player to try and create something here that

05:27can be more of a winning mentality, to go from being a young talented squad to being

05:31a winning squad, like your Juve squad and your Sevilla squad?

05:34I try to do this in all the teams that I was in the past, even in my experience with City

05:42under-23, that was the first time we won that title, then Leicester was exactly the same,

05:48that probably was the most difficult one because after relegation the mood is disaster from

05:54everyone, and here I'm trying to do exactly the same.

06:01Is this all taking you a bit by surprise, how well things seem to be going so far?

06:08It looked like a really, really big job the few months ago, and we haven't really had

06:14any setbacks, it's all been a pretty smooth trajectory upwards so far, does it surprise

06:21you how smooth it's gone?

06:24For sure I still consider it a big job, as you said, but this just means that because

06:32it's a big job you are not thinking to do the right things.

06:37In terms of expectations, I said we are ahead of my expectations in the way we are playing,

06:46and for sure in terms of results, we started four or five months ago, it's a very early,

06:57short time together, but the best feeling that I have is that there are many, many,

07:03many things that we can do better, and we are in the right direction.

07:08You said that the club didn't set you specific targets, but you must have had an idea of

07:18what the next few years would look like, how long would it take, how long are you expected

07:23to go at, have you had to change your internal plan for what?

07:27No, no, the good thing is that I still think what I said to the owners and to the sport

07:34director the first time I met them, because of the age and because how good is the squad,

07:40for me Chelsea in the next five, ten years will be one of the teams or the team that

07:45is going to dominate English football.

07:48This is what I said to the club the first time I met them, no matter who will be the

07:51manager for the next five, ten years, because of the age and because of the squad, you can

07:57dominate English football, and I still think exactly the same.

08:02Now in terms of target, they didn't ask me any target, the only thing they asked me is

08:06to try to build for the next years something important, I think we are in the right direction,

08:12and in terms of personal target, I know that from outside you struggle to believe, but

08:19I just finished to see how today, this afternoon, the session we can help the players to improve

08:25and the team to improve.

08:26I'm not focused about, I'm focused about Southampton for sure, but I'm not focused

08:30about end of season, next season, two seasons, because it's not real.

08:36Simon?

08:37When was the last time you spoke to the owners?

08:41After the last game, after Aston Villa game.

08:47Can you share the notes of the conversation, are they telling you...

08:52No, it's a normal conversation that we used to have after every game, how was the game,

09:01your feeling, what works well, what doesn't work, and it's just about this.

09:06Are you getting the impression that they're very happy with the job you've done?

09:10Ah, this is a question for them, I hope so, and they show me, not happiness, but they

09:20show me that they are happy, they are okay, but it's more a question for them.

09:26And on Lesley Di Pietricu, obviously he was sent on loan to Southampton,

09:30he's not playing very much, will he be coming back in January?

09:36Oh, no idea, no idea at the moment.

09:38No idea about the loans, no idea about window transfer, we have still, I think before January,

09:43we have still seven Premier League games, it's too many games to be thinking about that.

09:49Okay, thanks.

09:50Camera's off.

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