Maresca on Chelsea's 1-0 win over Spurs to boost Champions League hopes

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca reacts to their 1-0 Premier League win over Tottenham which boosts their Champions League hopes Stamford Bridge, London, UK

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00:00How important is it to start this next stretch of the games with a win?

00:08Very important. First of all, because of the performance, we know how important it is in

00:12this moment to win games. But since we started, we try to win games in the way we want. And

00:18I think tonight the performance was very good and we are happy.

00:22Was it much better than it was before the international break? It felt like you were

00:27in control, you were the one winner. Did it feel like that for you?

00:29No, no. It was a different game compared to before the international break. I said yesterday

00:34in the press conference, the last four games at home were Leicester, Southampton, West

00:39Ham and Wolves. Four teams that sit back and wait for us. Tonight, Tottenham, it's a different

00:45kind of game, so for us in some way it's better. We're probably from outside, but it's just

00:51a matter of different kind of games.

00:59Antonio Conte said that he hated to be a coach on nights like when Napoli won 2-1 against

01:05Milan, because of the very nervy final. I want to ask you, how did you feel personally

01:09on those 12 last minutes? How did it feel? Because he said, of course, a goal from Tottenham

01:15could have changed the mood for 40,000 people. So how did you feel on those?

01:21No, yeah. Probably, I just said to the players, since day one, we don't work every day to

01:29win the game in the way we win and play in the last 10 minutes, in terms of waiting for

01:34them and giving the ball to them. But if you want to become a team, I think you need also

01:38to learn and to play in the way we played in the last 10 minutes, win a game in a dirty

01:43way. Because I think for 90 minutes, until the extra time, we were in control. We created

01:48chances enough to win the game. We created chances enough in the first half. But then,

01:53to be honest, that's been my mistake because I did a change before I saw the extra time

01:58and when I saw 12 minutes, I saw that probably it was too early to make that kind of a change.

02:04But fortunately, we won the game and we are happy.

02:10Was that as animated as you've been this season? You seem to be really feeling it tonight,

02:17touching on that Christmas there. And secondly, did you deliberately see a chance to play

02:23more long balls tonight with Jackson there? It seemed like it did go off a long ball.

02:29No, but we are together already nine months. To be honest, I don't know how long we're

02:35going to be together. But until the day that I will be here, I will tell you that our game

02:41plan depends on the opposite. We don't do the same game plan. We cannot do the same

02:46game plan against Tottenham and against Leicester. Because they play a completely different way.

02:51So tonight, we use more bowling behind because of Tottenham, the way they defend, the way

02:57they press. And Nico, for us, since we started, I said many times that he's an important player

03:05because he's a threat. He's a threat for the defensive line. Off the ball, he's pressing

03:11everyone. For sure, with Nico, we are a different team.

03:15Did you feel that you helped him a lot more than the other players?

03:22No, I was just focused on how we try to win the game. And probably also because it was

03:30a derby, in this moment, all the games are important. So probably also for that reason.

03:35But I have to say that my feeling from the bench tonight was that we had the best environment

03:41since we started the season with the fans. I was very happy with the way the fans were

03:47tonight. With them in the way they were tonight, we're going to achieve important things because

03:54they push us, they help us. So I'm very happy. And please, if they can do the same until

04:00the end, it's good for us.

04:02Davide?

04:16To be honest, Davide, I think Cole Palmer's performance tonight was very similar to the

04:22rest of the performance. The only difference is that in the previous performance, he didn't

04:27score, he didn't assist. And because he's a top player, and probably the best player

04:32we have, every time he didn't score or didn't assist, it's a news. But for me, it's something

04:37normal. I said many times that we cannot rely on Cole for every game. We cannot expect Cole

04:43every game scoring assists. And tonight, the assist for Enzo was top assist. Enzo was in

04:49a very good position. So I'm very happy for them.

05:11Tonight, just relax. And then from tomorrow morning, we're going to start to prepare for

05:18the next game against Brentford. But from now on, all the games are difficult for us

05:22and for the rest. So we're going to try to prepare for the next game in the best way

05:27and just go game after game.

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