“We had 3 big chances” – Chelsea fans should be “proud” of their team after 2-0 loss says Maresca | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca spoke to Chelsea TV after Sunday’s defeat, and it was interesting to hear how he managed to put a positive spin on a hugely damaging defeat.

“100% we are not happy with the defeat, but at the same time, the spirit, the energy, the togetherness from the team was top, fantastic. And we need to continue with that, and be focused on Friday’s game, that is the next one,” the manager said.

“In this stadium, when you concede after two minutes it’s complicated, because of the noise, so we struggled a little bit, then the red card affected our plan. In the second half we tried to adjust some things, and it worked quite well.”

Maresca pleads with fans for big noise at home

Enzo Maresca applauds the fans. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Asked about the fans who made the long trip to the North East to see their team crumble after 2 minutes, Maresca asked for more support at home on Friday:

“We need to keep the same energy, the same effort, and prepare Friday’s game. We feel sorry for the fans, because there were a lot, unfortunately we conceded after one minute, and then with the red card, the plan changed. But I think they can be proud of the effort in the second half. We didn’t look like we had ten players, we looked like we had more than Newcastle. We had 3 big chances that unfortunately we missed, and this is the same energy that we need on Friday in our stadium with our fans.”

You can see the Chelsea manager speaking in the clip embedded here:

Maresca running out of hope as another game slips by

Many people would argue that Maresca got it all wrong – he’s blaming an early goal and a red card, but he bears some responsibility for both of those things occurring. It’s all very well to keep looking ahead to the next game – but eventually there will be no next game to look forward to.