“I promise…” – Maresca admits his team were not able to execute his game plan | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca is a very methodical manager, and he always likes to mention he has different game plan for every match.

Speaking after yesterday’s win, where his team dominated the chances but not possession, the Italian coach admitted that this wasn’t his plan at all – Liverpool were just so good that they changed up the script. Even with a second choice midfield, they controlled the ball for long periods when Chelsea had to sit back.

Maresca admits dominant Liverpool was not on the agenda

Moises Caicedo runs midfield against Liverpool. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

“Today Liverpool again showed the reason they won the Premier League. I promise you we did not plan the game to defend deep, we planned the game to high press in the way we always do, but sometimes the other team is so good that you have to defend deep, you have to adapt and the players dealt with that very well,” the Blues boss said to Chelsea TV.

You can see Maresca speaking in the clip embedded here:

Maresca hails rowdy Stamford Bridge crowd after win

There was been plenty of tension between Maresca and the Chelsea fans this season, and the interviewer set up the manager nicely here to try and heal some sore spots by praising the Stamford Bridge faithful, who were given the perfect start with an early goal and responded by cheering on their team all the way to victory:

“They are all going to be tough games but [remaining] you have to go game-by-game. The reason why the coaching staff were so happy – and so were the fans – is because at this stage of the season, you need to win games.

“For sure, today’s environment was the best environment of the season with our fans. This is what we need every game. They were fantastic, it was so good.”