Maresca on Chelsea wanting to win conference league ahead of Copenhagen visit with 2-1 lead

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Maresca on Chelsea wanting to win conference league ahead of Copenhagen visit with 2-1 lead  12/03/2025  Cobham Training Centre, Surrey, UK

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00:00Right, good afternoon and welcome to our Matchday Minus One press conference ahead of tomorrow's

00:26UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 second leg against FC Copenhagen. We'll take

00:33questions from the floor. Who wants to get us started?

00:36Hi, I'm Adam from the Danish news agency Rita. Last week it seemed like you were a bit surprised

00:49with the Copenhagen strategy, the Copenhagen approach to the game. Which kind of approach

00:55do you expect from Copenhagen tomorrow?

00:58No, yeah. I was surprised, as I said last week, especially because I watched many games

01:04and they were off the ball always defending with line of four. And then against us they

01:12were line of five. Even the last game they played two days ago, they were again line

01:16of four. So the reason why we were a little bit surprised was for that. But then we tried

01:22to adapt immediately. Tomorrow, to be honest, I don't know. I don't know if they're going

01:27to be in one way or the other way. We'll see tomorrow.

01:32I believe you've been out training about Cole Palmer. His stomach problems were big news

01:39over the weekend. Is he fighting physically and rearing to go?

01:43Cole, Rhys and Christo, today has been first session. Yesterday they were not here and

01:48two days ago we had rest. And the reason why is because all of them, they had some

01:52problems. But today they were all back and they are all better.

01:56So does it seem like there's been kind of an illness going through the squad perhaps?

02:00Yeah, probably. Yes, I don't know.

02:02Does that worry you for tomorrow or is everybody okay?

02:07No, yeah. As I said, yesterday they were not even here, all of them. Today they trained

02:13with us. So they took part of the session and we'll see for tomorrow if we're going

02:18to use some of them.

02:20Just on a separate issue, there's kind of a curiosity around this game that if Tottenham

02:26win tomorrow and Chelsea win and both go through, you play your first league the next round

02:33away. If Tottenham go out, you play at home. So I'm just wondering if you're going to be

02:39a secret Spurs fan tomorrow. It's usually the best thing is to play away for the first

02:45league, right?

02:46Yeah, but first of all because it's an English team, so I hope for them to play against.

02:53It's an English team, they play against an Italian team, they destroyed me in Italy.

02:57And Alkmaar, Holland.

02:59Ah, yeah. It's an English club, so I hope for England that they go through that game.

03:07As you said, you never know. Sometimes it's better to play at home, sometimes it's better

03:11to play away. So first of all we need to be focused on us, win, make the job and then

03:17we'll see the next round.

03:21How difficult a balance is it in terms of your selection and your strategy, dealing

03:27with the game tomorrow while also knowing that you have this massive game against Arsenal?

03:32The priority is tomorrow. For us the priority is tomorrow because it's the next one and

03:37it's the most important one. Then after tomorrow we start to think about Arsenal. But for sure

03:43we're going to be focused on tomorrow's game.

03:45Are there any players you think might not be quite physically ready for tomorrow but

03:49may be ready for Sunday?

03:54The only one that is still injured is Malo Gusto. I mean the only one, new one. Then

03:59Non is still out, Nico is out, the rest are still out. But the rest I think they can play.

04:06How is Raheel looking? Because he's been such a big player for the team.

04:11It's much better. Romelu is much better. He's not in the Conference League squad, unfortunately.

04:18But for him it's more or less similar to Reece James in terms of the main target for us,

04:26the main duty is to help him to be fit until the end and play as much as game he can.

04:36Sunday Copenhagen played a game against a lower team in the league in Denmark and you

04:41said that you saw it. Could you use that game for anything because they played quite badly

04:47in Denmark in what we think was the game?

04:51You mean the one that they drew 1-1 the last game?

04:54No, it's a different game. Every game is different. It's a different game. Tomorrow for sure will

04:59be a different game. So I watched the game but I think it's nothing to see with tomorrow's

05:06game. It's a different game.

05:09So you couldn't use it for anything?

05:11No, it's just that we watched the game to see how they behave. But as I said also I

05:16watched many games before the first leg and then they changed completely the way they

05:20play against us. So we'll see tomorrow.

05:25Can I just check on Lucas Jackson and his progress?

05:30Yeah, he could be back probably after the international break. Him, Noni also. This

05:35is good news. As I said, now before the international break we have two games, two efforts, tomorrow

05:41and Sunday. And then finally we have international break, we can recover energy, we can recover

05:46players and go for the last sprint.

05:49Can I just ask about your style of play in general in the Premier League? Because it

05:55feels like the Premier League today is a lot more high-pressing, a lot more sprints. It

06:00seems like that direction of travel is where we're going and a lot of transitional football

06:05as well. Do you think the game is changing from your perspective and where do you see

06:10your style fitting in in those changes within the league?

06:15I think football always evolves but then you can find teams in the league that they

06:23just play in one way or teams that they play in a different way. We have I think 20 clubs

06:30in the Premier League and more or less we are all different. There are teams that they

06:36try to be aggressive and high-pressing, teams that they prefer to sit back and go in transition.

06:44I think off the ball the way we play since we started is quite clear. We try to be aggressive

06:49and on the ball also we try to control the game and score when we need to score, defend

06:55when we need to defend. In this moment I think we are the second or the third best attacking

07:01team of the Premier League so that means that we are scoring a lot of goals and defending

07:06also we are there. But for sure we can attack better and we can defend better.

07:14You switched your goalkeepers some time through the season and last week you told us that

07:23you were going to start Romelu Sanchez in the game in Denmark. He also played against

07:30Leicester if I'm not wrong. So can you say if Philippe Janssen are going to be in the

07:38goal tomorrow or if you are going to pick Robert?

07:41We'll see, we'll see to be honest. I didn't decide yet and we have still more than 24

07:46hours and we can decide one of them. But as I said many times, they are both very good.

07:52Just a question on Philippe Janssen. Yesterday he was called up for the Danish national team.

07:58Can you say if you have been some kind of part in the process by speaking to the coach

08:05Leandrima or Philippe or something?

08:07No, no, no. Absolutely.

08:09How do you feel about him?

08:11Happy for all the players that they can join the international team. It's nice. It's something

08:16good for them, for us as a club. So we are quite happy with that.

08:24Romelu, can I take you back to 2006 UEFA Cup and getting all the way to the final. You

08:29scored twice in the final, beat Middlesbrough. I was reading back about how massive that

08:34was for the club, for the players. I think a couple of the players said it got you addicted

08:39to winning. Do you think the conference league can be used similarly for Chelsea? How big

08:44would that be for your players to go all the way in this competition?

08:49It could be. It could be even if I think Sevilla's history is very different from Chelsea. I mean

08:58Chelsea is a club that every year they fight for, especially in the past, they fight for

09:07important titles, Champions League, Premier League, these kind of things. And it's a bit

09:11different from Sevilla, that was a club that they never won nothing until that day in terms

09:16of European competition. So it was the first one. And then since there, they won more titles.

09:23But for sure when you start to win, it's something that you can be addicted to. You

09:28can start to win, you enjoy how to win games. And hopefully it can be for us exactly the

09:33same.

09:35Liverpool PSG went to penalties last night. Do you bother practising them out there? And

09:42if it comes to that, or you get a penalty jump again, do you get any sense of Paul Palmer?

09:46I mean I don't get the sense that he would be bothered by what happened previously. Do

09:51you think it would be fine to step him up under that pressure?

09:54Absolutely, absolutely. I said after the game, Cole is going to miss more penalties. And

09:59the reason why is because the one in charge ought to shoot penalties. If you don't shoot,

10:03you don't miss. So I don't have any doubt that in the future he's going to miss more

10:07penalties, but also he's going to score more penalties. And I don't think that the other

10:11day penalty affected him in a negative way.

10:15On Disney Plus, you've worked with the two most promising goalkeepers in Denmark right

10:22now, Messiaen at the time in Leicester and now Philip Johnson. Can you make a short comparison

10:27of the level and the attributes of these two players?

10:30They are both very good. Mats last year with us did a fantastic season. Philip this season

10:36when he's playing, he's doing well. So they are for me both very good, both very young,

10:43because I think Mats is 25 now and Philip is 22 or 23. So I think Denmark they have

10:49a keeper for many years, they are still the main one. But behind him there are two young

10:56keepers that can be the future of the international team.

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