PROCEED WITH CAUTIONS
Maresca’s happy to play dirty after record night
BY PAUL BROWN
ENZO MARESCA says Chelsea need to learn how to get their hands dirty if they want to be successful.
Supersub Christopher Nkunku snatched a dramatic late winner in a game Bournemouth dominated.
And for a long time it looked like the civil war raging in the boardroom at Stamford Bridge was going to spill over on to the pitch.
Blues players argued among themselves as referee Anthony Taylor dished out a Premier League record of 14 yellow cards, including several for dissent.
But Robert Sanchez saved Evanilson’s penalty and Bournemouth were wasteful, hitting the woodwork twice.
Blues boss Maresca (below) was proud of the way his team fought, saying sometimes bookings are a necessary evil.
He said: “If you want to win games and you want to do something important, you need to understand how to win games.
“The way to win these games, you have to finish the game with the T-shirt dirty, and you have to finish the game probably with a yellow card.
“They showed many yellow cards but it’s these kind of games that require these kind of things.”
Maresca is trying to keep his players focused on the pitch and not on the war of words in the boardroom. Co-owners
Behdad Eghbali and
Todd Boehly are currently trying to buy each other out after a major fall-out.
But Maresca said he does not mind his players falling out with each other if it gets the job done.
He added: “It’s the only thing that we can control, so we try to do our best, the players try to do their best on the pitch.
“The important thing is that we can learn that in these kind of games, you need something different than only the tactical part.
“You need something inside, you need to win duels and all the games are different.”
Cherries skipper Adam Smith could not believe his side lost the match and reckons the visitors knew they got away with one.
He said: “They just realised they were in for a game. Sometimes against the top teams they can just enjoy it and do what they want.
“But you could feel it. They weren’t enjoying it and they had no time on the ball.
“That’s what we like to sense in games and we definitely sensed that in this one from the first minute.
“That just give us more confidence going forward. They were suffering for sure.
“We just weren’t ruthless enough. It wasn’t falling our way. It’s frustrating. We definitely had the most shots and chances.”
Man of the match Sanchez, who made a string of saves as well his penalty stop, also praised match-winner Nkunku.
He said: “Amazing. This is what boys from the bench need to do. You have to have an impact and he is a total player. We are very happy. We are improving game by game.”
BOURNEMOUTH CHELSEA 33% POSSESSION 67% 7 SHOTS ON TARGET 3 8 SHOTS OFF TARGET 3 276 TOTAL PASSES 579 70% PASSING SUCCESS 85% 6 CORNERS 3 4 OFFSIDE 3 16 FOULS 9 0 CARDS 0 6 8
REF: Anthony Tayor ATT: 11,235