ENZO HAS A PRESSING PROBLEM
‘Suicidal’ high line without pressure is now a massive Blues defensive headache
ENZO MARESCA admits he has failed to cure Chelsea’s dodgy defensive “habit” with their season opener against champions Manchester City looming large.
The Blues let in 63 goals in 38 Premier League games last season and despite rallying to finish sixth to qualify for Europe, it was not enough to save Mauricio Pochettino’s skin.
And the Stamford Bridge club have already conceded 12 goals in five matches on their US tour, which they signed off with a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid.
The former Leicester City boss branded the combination of a high line without a press as “suicide” after the 4-1 loss to Celtic. And after a third defeat during his brief reign, Maresca admitted: “It’s a problem we are trying to solve in pre-season since day one.
“One of my first meetings with the squad was about the number of goals we conceded last year, with the defensive line being very high. It is something that we are trying to work on.
“It is a habit. We are not working on playing with the defensive line higher. It is a habit from last year or from years ago. I don’t know. But we are trying to drop the defensive line by four or five metres so we have the advantage and don’t concede the balls in behind.
“Last season we conceded many goals with this problem and hopefully we can solve this problem very soon.”
Real Madrid were without new signing Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham but Vinicius Jr ran riot. The Champions League winners scored twice in the first hour through Dani Ceballos and Brahim Diaz before Noni Madueke netted a header before half-time. “Offensively, once
again, we were there because the patterns are there and we created chances,” added the Italian. “The problem has been defensively and I don’t just mean the defensive line. All of the players.”
Chelsea only beat Mexican side Club America in the USA and drew 2-2 with League One Wrexham.
New goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen (left) said: “We have to work on a few things. I should be a bit higher when the line is so high, but we will work on that. We will get to know each other and we will work on some things.”
The Blues have a final pre-season match at Stamford Bridge on Sunday against Serie A winners Inter Milan.
Maresca said he hoped both Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson will be available for the opening Premier League fixture at home to Manchester City on Sunday week.