Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca stated that his players are still adjusting to his style and tactics following a 4-1 defeat against Celtic in their pre-season friendly in Indiana on Saturday.
Christopher Nkunku’s penalty in the 89th minute was the only consolation for the Premier League side at the University of Notre Dame after Mikey Johnston scored Celtic’s fourth goal.
It was Maresca’s second game in charge, following a 2-2 draw with League One side Wrexham in California on Thursday.
“Off the ball we need to improve things,” Maresca said. “You can see sometimes we confuse when we need to play short and when we need to play a little bit longer, but that is part of the process. We maintained a high line but when the ball is not under pressure, you need to drop. We are still confusing some things on the ball and off the ball. It is normal at this moment when we are trying to do something new.”
Chelsea had 23 shots to Celtic’s 14 and had almost two-thirds of the possession, but Brendan Rodgers’s team were playing their fifth match of pre-season after beating Manchester City 4-3 last time out.
“As we said, the result is always important,” Maresca said. “For us, we need to analyze the game in general. I think on the ball, the team was ten times better than in the game against Wrexham and that is important because we can see the number of chances we created in the first half and second half. The result is always important, but at this moment we need to judge and analyze different things. On the ball, we created chances; off the ball, we probably conceded too much, and that is something we need to improve.”
Rodgers commented, “It was very pleasing when you see the level of talent Chelsea had. At any top team, you need a structure, talent, and the mentality to win. I think we had that from the very first kick of the ball to the end. Everything was very synchronized, the pressing, the work in such hot conditions. I was so pleased.”
Despite the lackluster results, Maresca said his team would be ready for their opening match of the Premier League season against the champions, Manchester City, on 18 August.
