Enzo Maresca praises ‘professional’ Chelsea after easing past Morecambe | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca praised a “serious, professional” display from his team after they romped past League Two Morecambe in the FA Cup third round.

The 5-0 win at Stamford Bridge came after the visitors held off the Premier League outfit until shortly before half-time, defender Tosin Adarabioyo eventually taking the initiative as Chelsea struggled for ideas, lashing in the first of two goals from outside the box.

The floodgates opened after the break as Christopher Nkunku doubled the lead and Joao Felix struck twice, throwing cold light on the 87 league places that separated the sides.

“It was good in terms of we won and that’s important,” said Maresca. “The performance in these kinds of game show how serious and professional we are, once again the players showed that.”

The game will best be remembered for Tosin’s long-range zingers, the 27-year-old trebling his goalscoring return to help his team out of a fix as Morecambe’s low block frustrated Chelsea and home fans audibly grew restless.

“It’s a little bit the picture of the game,” said Maresca. “He was most the time the only one with more space because all the rest were man to man inside the box, there was no space. He was the only one who could carry the ball and try that option.

“He can do that, but central defenders you struggle to see them at the edge of the box attacking.”

There was further good news for Maresca with Reece James and Romeo Lavia surviving unscathed on their first starts since returning from injury.

Both were withdrawn at half-time at the start of what the head coach said would be a managed reintroduction to the first team.

The decision to bring them off Maresca said was “just to protect them. The idea was to play for 45 minutes. Hopefully we can start from there and build some physical condition and allow them to be with us for the rest of the season.

“The idea is slow to build the right condition, especially for Reece, you have to be a bit more careful. The good thing is they both played 45 minutes with no problem. Now hopefully we can start to help them to build the right condition.”

Morecambe boss Derek Adams, whose attention now reverts to the battle to keep his relegation-threatened  team in the EFL, reflected on the chasm in resources his players were up against.

“I thought we started very well,” he said. “We were in the 18-yard box many times in the first half. We could have probably done better with finding the final pass. We let Chelsea into the game.

“They put on three substitutes at half-time which did help, they’ve got the quality.

“Our wage bill is just over one million and they’ve spent a billion. The gulf is huge, it’s only going to get bigger, but I thought we acquitted ourselves well. We enjoyed the occasion.”