Enzo Maresca on Chelsea's conference league trip to Astana

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Enzo Maresca on Chelsea's UEFA Conference league trip to Astana  11/12/2024  Cobham training centre, Surrey, UK

Transcript

00:00Good morning, welcome to our Matchday Minus One press conference ahead of tomorrow's UEFA

00:06Conference League game in Astana. Paul, would you like to get us underway?

00:12Hi Enzo. First of all, team news. Your position in the table is obviously very strong in this

00:19competition. Is it a good chance, given not just the points you've amassed, but the fact

00:25that it's such a long trip, to really rest a number of your key senior players?

00:33Yes, some of them are going to be here. Some of them are going to fly with us. More or

00:39less we try to manage in the same way we have done until today. We have many young players,

00:48second team players with us. And the rest are going to be here working.

00:54What other things have you looked at logistically that sort of just takes the edge off that

01:00kind of a long trip?

01:02Yes, eight hours is not a normal time for a game. But we have to go there, we have to

01:12play and we're going to try to do our best, thinking also about the next game.

01:19The team is in such a good place at the moment, generally. Has that surprised you in any way,

01:25just the start you've made to the season?

01:28Yes, especially in terms of performance. I said already many times that we are quite

01:36ahead of my expectations in terms of performance and for sure also in terms of points. But

01:45the main thing is to see how we can continue to improve on the ball and off the ball.

01:51Traditionally, talking specifically about league matches, you often think about that

01:57phrase, defences win league. But in your case, do you think you can achieve what you want

02:03to achieve and win a trophy this season with just the attacking talent that you have on

02:08the side?

02:10Conceding three goals against Tottenham the other day, we have just two teams that they

02:16consider less than us. So we are attacking and defending well and you are not going to

02:21win games or win any titles just scoring goals. You need to defend. As I said, conceding three

02:30goals against Spurs, we have just two clubs, two teams that they consider less than us.

02:36That means that also defensively we are probably doing quite well.

02:45Just going on about that, the defensive side of things, is that something you are going

02:50to have to look at in the January transfer window that is coming up because you are still

02:55obviously well placed in the Premier League and you are flying high in this competition?

03:00No, we are not thinking at all, absolutely, about window transfers in January. We have

03:08still many games before that. We have I think six Premier League games plus two conference

03:14games of five and two. We have still many, many games before January and now the focus

03:19is just about the amount of games that we have before that.

03:23Unlike many journalists, I've asked you about whether or not you are in the title race and

03:27you always tell me no. So that's in the Premier League. What about this competition? Are you

03:31the favourites to win this?

03:33No, I've said already many times about this competition. The main target is to go next

03:39stage, now the group stage, the next one and then the next one. Now the target is to go

03:44to the next one. Then where? We achieve the next one, the target is to go to the next

03:49one. I don't like to think about a four or five-month fight.

03:53Why? Why don't you like to raise your ambitions?

03:56No, because it's not about ambitions. I'm quite ambitious. The players, they are ambitious.

04:01The club is ambitious for the history of the club. But it's because, in my opinion, if

04:06you think in four or five months, probably you can lose a little bit the focus that is

04:11just now.

04:13Obviously Cole Palmer is not in your squad for this competition so he will have a nice

04:17rest ahead of the game with Brentford. On reflection after his performance at Spurs

04:23at the weekend, would you say currently, right now on the form, he's the best player

04:27in England?

04:30It could be, in this moment it could be. But England is quite lucky in terms of the Premier

04:35League because there are so many good players. I think for sure Cole is one of them. But

04:41he's full of fantastic players in the Premier League.

04:45Just one more on him, last one. Can you see him getting even better? He's only 21 right

04:51now. What is his ceiling? Are we going to be talking in a year or two about him being

04:57absolutely world-class?

04:59Absolutely, he can be. But as you said, he's just 21 so he can do many things better. He

05:04has to learn many things. He has to learn and he's learning in this moment that everyone

05:10is marking him man-to-man, how to play against him that they mark him man-to-man. But there

05:14are many things that he can improve for sure.

05:17Thanks Ian.

05:18Simon?

05:19Hi Enzo. Is Nonny Matueki one of the players that is staying behind now because Pedro Neto

05:27is suspended for Sunday?

05:29So the question is if Nonny is flying or staying?

05:33He's staying now because Pedro Neto is suspended for Sunday.

05:40If you want to know the first eleven for tomorrow, for Sunday. We have a session now,

05:4610 o'clock we have a session. More or less the general decisions are already there. But

05:53after the session we'll see.

05:55I just wondered whether your plans have changed because of that yellow card. You can see from

06:01Pedro's face that he knew when he got booked.

06:04Yes, but Pedro's yellow card is a normal yellow card. The problem is when we receive

06:13some useless or yellow card that we don't need. In that case it's a bit different but

06:21in Pedro's one I think it was foul, it was the right moment to do the foul and it was

06:27a yellow card. He's going to be out, suspended against Brentford but he will be again the

06:32next game available.

06:34Can you explain a little bit about how the club has organised this trip because these

06:39eight hour trips can be very disruptive. I think you're going to face minus eleven temperatures.

06:43Can you tell me a bit about the time zones, how you manage it and the temperature and

06:47the travel as well for the club?

06:49We have a session now, then we fly there, as you said eight hours. We arrive, dinner,

06:56bed. Fortunately there are five hours ahead of us so that means that when we wake up tomorrow

07:03it's already midday here in England so we're going to be there less than 24 hours. It's

07:09more the temperature for sure and the fly because Friday morning we're going to land

07:15around six o'clock in London and it's already Friday and we have a game Sunday but we have

07:23to play.

07:24Do you think you'll give any debuts tomorrow?

07:27Any day?

07:28Debuts, first games for players.

07:30Ah, debuts. Probably, yes.

07:36And Josh Hutchinpom is in the squad. Do you think he's going to be introduced again now

07:41because he's got that period away?

07:43Oh, you know the squad? I didn't say the squad yet.

07:45I saw on the UEFA website.

07:50He's on the squad, yeah. And probably he's going to play from the start.

07:54And is that a change of position from the club or is that just because he's new?

07:58No, no, no. With Josh it's quite clear. We all love Josh, the club loves Josh, I love

08:05Josh and we are trying to find an agreement with the players. We are close, we are almost

08:12there but we'll see.

08:14Isham.

08:15Hi, I hope you're well today. One of my colleagues is going to be travelling to Kazakhstan to

08:21cover the game and he's one of the only English journalists making the journey. Many fans

08:25will be making the journey as well, the long journey. What is your message to them?

08:29I don't know. We always appreciate fans and people that they come with us. Now probably

08:38even more because of the amount of hours, the temperature that is not exactly the same

08:45than here. So we always appreciate and in this case even more.

08:50The conditions and the atmosphere you're going to be playing in is very different to

08:54what some of these academy players are used to. What is your message to them and what

08:59are you hoping to see from the players that end up making their debuts or get some game

09:03time?

09:04Overall I think we're going to have one or two from the second team playing from the

09:10start. Then the rest we'll see. The rest they are all first team players. The message for

09:17the young one is just to enjoy the moment because it's always nice to be with the first

09:21team and to be involved in this kind of competition. It's a European competition and it's very

09:27important.

09:28Thank you. Malek?

09:29Just on some of the logistics then, will the players stay on English time?

09:34Yeah, we'll stay on English time.

09:36And just in terms of those first team players who do come with you, while it sounds like

09:41quite a lot of the squad will stay here preparing for Bremben. How do you make sure, I suppose

09:46that their motivation is still at the top?

09:48It's not a big difference. I think we are 11-12 players and 8-9 flying. So the difference

09:56between the ones that stay here and the ones that are going to fly is about 2-3 the difference.

10:02And the target since we started is to allow all of them, no matter the competition, to

10:09play 90 minutes every week. And probably most of the ones that they play tomorrow,

10:13they will play against Southampton. So we try to keep them in a normal, in a regular

10:24situation in terms of playing 90 minutes every week. This is what we try to do.

10:29And we'll finish with Jack.

10:31How many layers are you going to take?

10:33How many?

10:34How many layers of players?

10:37Many of them.

10:39Is that what you're least looking forward to?

10:41Yes, it's a big difference. But as I said, we have to go, we have to play, we have to

10:47try to do our best and to try to adapt the condition that we're going to face there.

10:53What's the coldest condition you've ever played in?

10:57Something similar. I think it was the worst in Ukraine. We played with more or less the

11:08same temperature.

11:09Not much warmer. Ideally, would you have no players that are involved tomorrow involved

11:18against Brentford at the weekend?

11:19No, you never know. You never know because the ones that are not involved tomorrow, first

11:25of all, they're going to be training. They have to train well and you never know if we

11:31need one of the guys that they're going to play tomorrow on Sunday game. Ideally, we

11:38prefer no because we're going to land six o'clock in the morning Friday and it's not

11:44normal for one of them to land six o'clock in the morning and then play again Sunday.

11:49So hopefully not. But in case we need, they're going to do the effort.

11:54Thanks very much.

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