Enzo Maresca defends Chelsea stars after Blues suffer Man City assault | Football | Sport

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insists he was not concerned about his Blues players’ decision-making in their 4-2 defeat to Manchester City. Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick, including two in the opening five minutes, to condemn Chelsea to another disappointing pre-season defeat.

Oscar Bobb scored City’s other goal, with Raheem Sterling and Noni Madueke on the scoresheet for Chelsea. But Maresca’s men made some eyebrow-raising individual errors just weeks before they face City in their Premier League opener.

Maresca says he is not worried, however. The Italian coach believes his team just need to deal with the different moments of the matches, and has urged his senior players to show better organisation.

“I’m not worried because we need time to understand the moments,” Maresca said. “It’s just about when you concede a goal and you’re on the pitch, you need to talk to each other and say: ‘Guys, we conceded a goal’ and try to organize yourself a little bit.

“That’s exactly what I said. After the second goal, I called Reece (James) to the bench and said to him, ‘Okay, now we start the game and try to do things in a different way because we conceded two goals’. If you review the first half, beyond the first five minutes, there is nothing to say.”

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