Chelsea must solve their ‘habit’ of conceding too many goals says boss Maresca
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The coach of Chelsea, Enzo Maresca, believes that his team must break the pattern of giving away too many goals, following their 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid. Maresca emphasized the importance of addressing this issue promptly.
The loss resulted in them finishing their pre-season tour in the US with a record of one victory, one draw, and three losses in five games. The most concerning aspect was the 12 goals that were scored against them.
During the previous season, they let in 63 goals in 38 Premier League games, with five coming from Arsenal and four from Wolves, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Manchester City.
Maresca mentioned that he talked to his players about the "extremely high" defensive line early on, a habit that carried over from the previous season. He also highlighted the importance of playing out from the back this season, leading to an increase in mistakes.
The city took advantage of two defensive mistakes to secure a 4-2 victory on Saturday.
Maresca recalled discussing the number of goals the team let in last year during one of their initial meetings, specifically mentioning that the defensive line was often positioned too far forward.
We are not focusing on having such high defensive lines anymore. It's a practice that has been ongoing from the previous year, or even further back, I am not sure.
We are attempting to lower the defensive line slightly, usually by around four or five meters, in order to gain a strategic edge.
"Last year, we let in a lot of goals because of this issue. Hopefully we can fix it quickly."
The new Chelsea manager has more than just defensive problems to solve. They also lack attacking options as it appears Armando Broja and Romelu Lukaku will be departing from the club.
They acquired a young player from Spain named Marc Guiu, who is 18 years old and was purchased from Barcelona for £5 million. He has played in four matches during the US tour and scored one goal.
Nicolas Jackson has recently returned to training, leaving Christopher Nkunku to carry the responsibility of scoring goals. Nkunku has already scored three goals in Jackson's absence.
Even though they have a team of 45 players, they have more goalkeepers than strikers on the club.
Maresca is determined to find the right mix by having discussions to bring in Atletico Madrid’s Samu Omorodion and showing interest in Napoli’s Victor Osimhen.
Chelsea will start their Premier League season with a game at home against City on Sunday 18 August.
