Chelsea fell apart — again — and manager Enzo Maresca was unhappy with the result but not the performance after his Blues went from inspired leaders to 90th-minute losers in a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday.
The Blues led early through Enzo Fernandez but gave up a pair of second-half Marco Asensio goals both assisted by Marcus Rashford to fall again.
RECAP — Chelsea fall 2-1 at Aston Villa, video highlights
Chelsea have lost three of their last four Premier League matches and are 2W-3D-5L going back to December 22. For Maresca, at least on Saturday, the problem revolved around composure in the final third.
What else did Maresca say after calling Chelsea’s previous outing the worst of his tenure at the club?
Enzo Maresca reaction — What will Chelsea boss say about latest capitulation?
“The performance and reaction from last game had been very good. Today it’s a tough one because we didn’t deserve. One-nil up we had chances to score, even at 1-1. In this league you have to be clinical.”
“The last two games we were missing a threat in behind — a nine. We tried during the week with Pedro. It worked quite well. Today it’s tough because the team was good, they gave everything. The performance was good but unfortunately we lost and we are not happy. If we play the same way we did today, we can play an important part until the end.”
“The dynamic of the game — there are moments where you are more in control, and there are moments where they do exactly the same. This is the reason why we’ve said many times the difference is inside the box.”
“Cole is a great player. He had chances that he missed but we are very sure he’s going to be happy with Chelsea and we’re going to be happy with him. We expect but what he can give us but we cannot rely on Cole every game. We need all of the team. The performance today was good but unfortunately we lose. We hate to lose and this is a bad moment for us but we need to stick together and try to win games.”
“The keeper is position is very delicate. When they make a mistake it’s clear for everyone. Today unfortunately Filip did a mistake but he’s our keeper and we need to be strong together and for him. In some games, [Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen] both been brilliant but it’s a delicate position. We need to be strong in this moment, stick to our direction, and support each other.”
“I think today’s performance that shows that even if we are young, we are there. Today’s performance was very good but not enough. We need to win games, to do more. I have a feeling that we just need one win to go again for a good run. In this moment we’re in a bad run and we need to manage that.”
Marc Cucurella reaction — Chelsea can ‘feel the pain a little bit,’ then rebound
“We played well the first half especially. We lost a bit of control but we needed to kill the game in some moments, be more clinical. It’s true we played well but it’s not enough. We need to improve. We are not in a good place on the journey. We have two more games at home, so we can. now have two more mistakes.”
“They played well. They adjusted some things but in general we didn’t concede much things but if we concede goals it’s difficult. We need to improve and control more of the game, to be more clinical when we have chances. Last week we trained really good but it was not enough. We need to step forward, feel the pain a little bit, but if we stay together we can come Tuesday and have another game we need to win.”
