Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has detailed exactly what he asked his players ahead of The Blues 5-0 win against League Two Barrow at Stamford Bridge last night.
Things couldn’t have gone any better for Maresca and his players in the end, but these types of games can certainly become a potential banana skin if you are complacent or underestimate the opponent.
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We knew that Barrow would have arrived for this game being well up for it. It will be the biggest game that most of their players will ever play and in the biggest stadium they will ever play in. They are also top of League Two so are having a good season so far.
But Chelsea did the job, Chelsea showed the difference in quality, and Chelsea were professional and just way too good for their opponents in the end. One thing they didn’t do was show any complacency at all and they fought for every tackle, second ball, and played with aggression.
Maresca asked for no complacency
As cited on the Chelsea website, Maresca said after the game:
“With this kind of game I’m always worried a lot, because they are tricky games and football is full of these games. When you underestimate the opponent you can concede chances and goals, but tonight I think the performance was very good and we showed how serious we are.
“Before the game I asked the players that even if we are the youngest squad in the Premier League, they have to show how serious we are. For me the most important thing tonight was winning the game, but also sending a message that yes, we are young, but we are men, we are serious and we want to compete.”
