Enzo Maresca: Chelsea manager reveals the one big unknown quantity for Blues this season
According to Enzo Maresca, he is unsure of how Chelsea’s incredibly brief preseason will affect his team.
After competing in and winning the redesigned Club World Cup last month, the Blues have just two weeks to get ready for the Premier League season to begin.
Chelsea will wear a gold emblem on their shirts for the next four years to signify their victory over Paris Saint-Germain, which they achieved 3-0 in the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Before returning to Cobham earlier this week, the Blues’ team was given a three-week sabbatical following the July 13 final.
Before hosting Crystal Palace in their Premier League opener on Sunday, August 17, they have two preseason friendly left, both at Stamford Bridge, against Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan.
Maresca discussed the “strange” aspect of not having a normal pre-season period prior to the match against Erik ten Hag’s Leverkusen.
Regarding the brief window for preparation, Maresca remarked, “I am pretty curious, because it is the first time it has happened.”
“I’m not sure how it will affect us, and it’s weird and different.” You mentioned that Palace began [pre-season] the day after we concluded in the USA, which piques my interest.
We were off for three weeks. We started two days ago and will play two friendlies in the next 48 hours before moving on to the Premier League.
“I have no idea [what will occur].” We’ll see how we’re doing day by day and game by game, but I’m not sure. We played 64 games, so the main goal was to give them [the players] time to recover. That is not going to happen because they never stopped for more than a year in a row. This has never occurred before.
The Italian, who is starting his second term as leader, added that he has seen a change in the “mood” among his team members.
“I can see that the mood is – I don’t know if it is correct to say – but it’s different,” he continued.
“It is much better in terms of when you finish the season in the way we finish[ed] – quite strong. [We finished in the] top five, won the Conference League and then the Club World Cup. So, in any case, I think it is going to give players more, more [of a] boost. But, as I said, we need to see how we manage this situation, which is new for everyone.”
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