Chelsea star goes against Enzo Maresca to be open about “targets” | OneFootball

Reece James is back and playing again, and he could yet play a crucial role in Chelsea’s run in.

We heard earlier in this season some pretty stinging criticism from Enzo Maresca, who wasn’t convinced by James’ leadership abilities. But his recent comments seem to be those of a leader:

“Everyone wants to win and win and win, but when you learn the most, especially with a young team, is in those difficult periods. I think we learned a lot during this spell about ourselves and where we can do things differently going forward,” James said in a really interesting interview on the club’s official website.

“You can’t lose sight of what our targets are. These spells can happen in football – they’ve happened to the biggest teams in the world – but what we must do is react well, stick to what we know, and stick together as a group. That’s what we’re doing.”

James reveals squad is thinking same as fans on season aims

Enzo Maresca thinks deeply as Unai Emery outcoaches him. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Enzo Maresca has sometimes been a little reluctant in laying out goals which are too specific for his team, but we all know the reality of the situation given we were in second place at Christmas. No matter what the coach was told before the season, we simply have to get into the top 5 places now.

Anything other than that would be a failure, no matter what people say. And James is saying the same thing:

“We had a difficult run where things didn’t go our way despite good performances, so it was good to get the win. Now we have to focus on what’s ahead, with the Conference League restarting and the final months of the Premier League,” the defender said.

“We want to keep building momentum, finish the season in the right way, and qualify for the Champions League.”