“The worst game since we started the season” – Maresca uses shock tactics to stop Chelsea slip up | OneFootball

Tomorrow Chelsea face a classic “banana skin” game. It’s all set up for an easy win for Enzo Maresca’s team. They are in red hot form, their players are peaking, and they’re facing a Southampton team who are struggling in every aspect of the game.

It’s a textbook example of a match where a team can take their eye off the ball, especially with Tottenham coming up at the weekend. In his press conference today, Maresca did everything in his power to make sure that didn’t happen, by massively exaggerating the difficulty of the game to come:

“It’s the worst game since we started the season, for us, and will be the toughest game since we start the season. We need to be ready, otherwise it will be a bad day for us. The reason why, because if you analyse the results, they’re probably there [bottom of the league] but in terms of performance, they were winning against Liverpool, they lost against City 1-0, they drew with Brighton,” the coach explained, essentially claiming that Southampton are in a false position.

Enzo Maresca apologises to fans after Liverpool loss. (Photo by Alex Dodd/CameraSport)

Maresca’s inside knowledge from Championship year

Maresca then went on to explain in a little more detail about why Southampton could be dangerous, and how he has the knowledge from his time in  the Championship with Leicester last season that gives him that insight:

“The way they have played since last year, because I was in the Championship with Southampton last year, I know them quite well. They are very brave and it is very clear what they want; they want to keep the ball and we want the same, and it will be, for sure, a tough, tough game and we need to be ready.”

Let’s hope the manager’s psychological tricks work and we walk away with 3 points.