It was a bright and cheery Enzo Maresca press conference today, as you might expect.
The Chelsea manager is ahead of schedule, getting good results, and has dramatically lowered the pressure with his strong start to the season. There was even more good news today – the incredible revelation that the squad was FULLY FIT – not one first team injury remains following Reece James’ return to action this week.
James’ return does precipitate some interesting questions, specifically about the man originally bought to back him up at right full back, Malo Gusto. The Frenchman has been good for the most part, and will surely retain the starting role for a while yet. James will have to consistently prove his fitness before Maresca really has any hard decisions to make – but when he does have to decide, it’s going to be one of the trickiest calls he will have made as Blues boss.
Gusto and James ready to face off and take Chelsea to the next level
“It’s difficult [to pick between James and Gusto] but at the same time it’s nice because you know that one of them, the one I choose, is going to do well. This is a good feeling,” Maresca said in his presser today. The coach then answered questions about how Gusto was getting on with his fairly unique “inverting” role this season:
“Fantastic. Very happy. He’s giving us many things. He’s helping the process in the way we want to play a lot. We are happy with him, we are happy with Renato [Veiga] and the times he has to play inside.
He was then asked about how James would do in that specific role:
“First of all, he has to be fit and then slowly we will see. The most important thing for Reece is he is finally fit and then we will see how we will use him. We have many players that are versatile and can play in different positions.”
