Maresca preview's Ipswich ahead of their game on Monday

NicheSportMedia

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca preview's Ipswich ahead of their game on Monday  26/12/2024  Stamford Bridge, London, UK

Transcript

00:00Can I ask one final question on to this section, just on Man Utd's athletes? I'm not sure we've heard yet why you want them much.

00:07Technical decision.

00:08Sorry?

00:09Technical decision.

00:10OK. Thank you. OK, so moving on to...

00:16Kieran McKenna was linked with this job before you got it. You know him from your time in the Championship.

00:21How highly do you rate him as a manager?

00:24He's doing fantastic. Since he joined Ipswich, they are doing top. Even this year, they are doing well.

00:32So, congratulations to him for the way he's doing everything since he joined the club.

00:40And even this season, he's doing very well.

00:43What kind of challenge is it for the Chelsea side, facing a team at home, under the lights,

00:48fighting for relegation and the possibility of a point?

00:52Yeah, but I think all the Premier League games, they are complicated.

00:56No matter the other team, you see every game we play, that is always complicated.

01:02And you see also the other team, that you struggle to beat teams.

01:06I think Ipswich game will be exactly the same.

01:09You have some great momentum going for the game at the weekend before today,

01:13so how important is it for you to end the year on a high?

01:17Very important. We're going to try to prepare the game in the way we always try to win the game.

01:24We have a bad feeling about the last game that we lost against Fulham,

01:32and hopefully we can come back with three points after this game.

01:41You've got quite a lot of players out on the bench.

01:45Was it something in training, was it something in performance?

01:50No, it's just a technical decision. Sometimes we make some decisions,

01:55and it's no more than that.

01:57Will he be in contention for the squad?

02:01Yeah, for sure.

02:16As a particular part, what he did,

02:19was it the sort that has a bit of an effect on him to go again?

02:26How do you take it?

02:30Yeah, for sure after a game you need to go again, no matter the result.

02:36Especially this month, I think in December we already played eight or nine games in 25-27 days.

02:43So now it's also important to recover energy and to go again on Monday,

02:48and then if we're going to make one, two or three changes, we'll see.

02:53Now it's a bit early, but for sure we are going to change something.

03:04It just seems such a strange decision because he's been such an important player for you this season.

03:09You left him out recently because his level dropped in training.

03:13Was it something like that? Do you have to keep competition high?

03:16Do you have to keep motivation high?

03:18No, yeah, for sure the competition has to be higher,

03:21but not only Noni Madhuika was out, also Renato Vega was not on the squad.

03:25And the reason is exactly the same for both of them.

03:28There is not any different reason, it's just a technical decision.

03:32Was Gillespie Hall technical?

03:34No, no, Keenan is injured.

03:36We'll do two more, Kieran and Jack.

03:38Can I just follow up one, just quickly?

03:41I guess it's just so important, isn't it, when you have these setbacks,

03:45to keep the season going and to find a quick response from the squad?

03:50Yeah, absolutely. We never thought we were going to win every game.

03:54They just said to me that we lost the game on 18 August anyway,

04:01and then after two months, and then after two months.

04:04But we know that the reality is not just to lose one game every two months.

04:09So now it's just a matter of how we react and try to go again.

04:17You worked with Liam Dalot in Manchester City,

04:19who was the manager when he broke into the first team and got his debut.

04:23What makes him special and what potential does he have?

04:27Because we're starting to see that now.

04:29Liam is a fantastic player, I think, also for the age.

04:32I think he's so three. We spent one year together.

04:35I think in that season he scored 22, 24 goals.

04:39And he's a very good striker.

04:41As I said many times, England is quite lucky because they have many good players,

04:46good strikers, and he's working hard off the ball, on the ball.

04:53He understands the game, he can score goals,

04:55and also because of his age, I think he can be an important player for England.

05:03Just to go back to Nomi quickly,

05:05you've spoken about his maturity or his training level before in the past.

05:09When you've taken that step to go public with it, how has he responded?

05:13Fantastic. Very good.

05:15No, no, very good. He responded very good at that time.

05:20So there is no more than that.

05:22And you're expecting the same this time?

05:25Yeah, absolutely.

05:27OK, thanks very much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended