The Chelsea manager seems to be locked in on a new strategy to avoid further clash with the supporters
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is taking extra care to avoid further slip-ups after provoking the ire of fans last week.
After the 2-2 draw at home against relegation-bound Ipswich Town, the Chelsea head coach blamed the fans for the team’s poor performance. The Italian said that the ‘environment’ at Stamford Bridge failed his team.
As Chelsea went a goal down to Ipswich and struggled to play out from the back, boos began to come from the home support – directly particularly toward Robert Sanchez, whose distribution has been heavily criticised. Maresca said that the team then decided to go long because of the hostile environment, which caused them to concede another goal.
In his press conference before the Conference League game against Legia, Maresca tried to make amends for that by saying that it was ‘normal’ for fans to be upset if the team were playing poorly.
“Sometimes they are not happy,” he said, “but when you are 0-2 at home against Ipswich and we are making some mistakes, it’s normal that they are not happy.”
The head coach then said that he loved the fans, they always gave a good environment, and the team would work hard to makes fans happy. When asked if he could hear the crowd’s boos from his position on the sidelines, he said that he is always focused on the game and cannot hear anything else.
During the match against Legia, the fans notably booed the team in the first half as they struggled to play out from the back, and then again at full time after a 2-1 defeat described by team captain Reece James as frustrating to watch.
When asked about it after the game, Maresca again denied hearing the boos.
“The environment was good tonight,” said the coach. “I didn’t see any bad moments from the fans. I said already after the last game we need to engage them, and that’s what we have to do.”
