Chelsea continued their good form at the weekend and their 3-0 victory over Aston Villa means The Blues are now joint-second. Enzo Maresca was very pleased with his side's display, as they convincingly beat a team that qualified for the Champions League last season.
“It was a very good performance on and off the ball, I think we competed quite well,” said the Italian manager, ranked at no.44 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now. “We are doing that since we started, sometimes better and sometimes worse. I said many times, I think we are in the right direction.”
Maresca explains that the approach is the same every time. “I said after the Leicester game; no matter who the other team is, it is important to try to play in the way we want to play on the ball and off the ball. When we do this and we get three points, we are for sure happy.”
'Pressing is what we need'
“I think the performance was very good, on the ball we were playing [like] we prepared the game. Because Villa is a very difficult team, they are top defensively.
It's not easy to find space. They don't press, they just wait, so you have to be patient. And off the ball, again, we were very aggressive, we were pressing. Nicolas Jackson scored a goal, but he did a fantastic job, he was pressing the keeper and the right central defender, he was running for two players. And this is what we need.”
Maresca was pleased with all his players. “We are always looking for balance on the ball and off the ball. Enzo [Fernandez] did fantastic today once again. Moises, again. Today's game is very difficult to find one of them who was not good, I think we were all good.”
Fernandez scored a second goal in a row and there is more emphasis on his attacking role. “More times, he was in the right position, he was inside the box. It is very difficult to score goals from outside of the box. Almost all the goals happen from inside the box, so we need the two wingers, the two attacking midfielders, the No.9 inside the box."
Maresca also focuses on the importance of recovering balls in attacking areas. "The first goal we scored is because Marc Cucurella is in the right position to win the ball back and then we scored a goal.”
Chelsea, who has won three of their last five Premier League games, drawing the other two with Manchester United and Arsenal, have now two away games at Southampton and Spurs coming up.
But Maresca thinks his side are not yet ready to compete for the title, but does notice how Chelsea is improving. “I think we are not ready to compete with Liverpool, Arsenal and City for many reasons.
"Because we win today, I am not going to change my idea [opinion], we are not ready for that. But the good thing is that we are improving and hopefully very soon we can be there.
“It was a very good game for many reasons. [We played] a team that is fantastic. I consider [Unai] Emery a top manager; he's won trophies everywhere and is doing something fantastic at Villa. But also, we were there, we prepared the game and we deserved to win.”
