Enzo Maresca hails ‘ideal’ Chelsea forward as Blues move on from habitual ‘suicide’ in pre-season

Enzo Maresca was very impressed with Christopher Nkunku, whom he hailed as an “ideal player” for his Chelsea system after the Blues won their first pre-season game.

Maresca’s side hadn’t had the best of pre-seasons before their clash with Club America on Thursday, drawing 2-2 with Wrexham before being put to the sword by Celtic in a 4-1 defeat.

But there were clear signs of improvement from Chelsea as they ran out 3-0 winners in Atlanta as Nkunku and Noni Madueke both scored from the spot and new signing Marc Guiu scored his first goal for the club.

Maresca said he was pleased with the improvement as they try to break a habit that was clear in the defeat to Celtic which he described as “suicide”.

Asked about his side’s performance, Maresca said: “Very happy. When we lost, for us the result is always important because we are Chelsea but in this moment, the main focus cannot be the result. It’s to analyse or judge the performance and to see how we improve. In my personal opinion, from Wrexham, Celtic and today, we continue to improve. This is the most important thing.

“We struggled against Wrexham for many reasons, we struggled against Celtic for many reasons but there were many important things we improved. Today, we continued that line. Since we started, what we do in training has to happen here in the game.

“What I didn’t like against Celtic was the habit we have defensively. For instance, to hold the line very high when there is no pressure on the ball. This is suicide. You cannot hold the line very high when there is no pressure on the ball.

“We are talking, we are working. It’s a habit from years ago. I don’t know. There are things that we need to improve defensively but the way we pressed against Celtic, going man-to-man against a team that is ready to start the championship, we had to be brave every time.”

MORE CHELSEA COVERAGE ON F365
👉 Five players former clubs should re-sign as Aston Villa target Jack Grealish
👉 Enzo Maresca offers Man Utd boost in bid for top target who ‘doesn’t fit’ Chelsea system
👉 Wesley Fofana insists Enzo Fernandez ‘is not a racist’ after Chelsea summit

Maresca was particularly impressed with Nkunku, who’s now scored in each of Chelsea’s three pre-season games having barely played in his debut season thanks to persistent injury problems.

Maresca added: “I know Christo from years ago. I loved him before I joined this club. In the way we want to play, he is the ideal player. He can play in the pocket, in the nine, on the wing. In this moment we are using him in the pocket and he is doing very well.

“The reason he is playing every game is because we know that he is coming back from injuries and needs minutes. He is doing very well and also game after game he is getting better.

“You can see today; Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall] is speaking a different language to his teammates because he knows exactly when he has to move wide, attack behind, that was one year with us. Christo is improving that with us. Enzo’s [Fernandez] first day but he is going to improve.”