Enzo Maresca during Chelsea's game with Newcastle United(Image: Ed Sykes)

Every word Enzo Maresca said on Chelsea defeat, Palmer decision, Fernandez, Newcastle performance

30 Oct 2024, 22:35 by Bobby Vincent · football.london

Enzo Maresca faced the media after Chelsea were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the round of 16 stage by Newcastle United at St. James' Park.

Alexander Isak struck to give the Magpies the lead and then Axel Disasi put the ball in his own net to double the hosts' advantage on Tyneside. Maresca cut a very frustrated on the touchline and here is what he had to say about the game...

Why didn't that work tonight?

"No, I think it worked if we analyse the performance. If we analyse the result, it didn't work. But I think for 22 or 23 minutes, until their goal, we were in control of the game, we didn't concede nothing.

"But then after the goal, we lost the control for 10 minutes and then conceded the second one. In the last 10 minutes of the first-half, we had two or three clear chances that unfortunately we didn't score.

"In the second-half, we were in control of the game. The most important thing, as we always say, is the result but the performance, we lost the game because of 10 minutes after the first goal and then for the rest, we were quite good."

Was there a reason you brought Cole Palmer but then didn't bring him on?

"No, no, no. Simply because I think Joao [Felix] and Christo [Nkunku] were doing very good. The reason why [we brought him] was in case we needed Cole but Joao and Christo were doing well so there was no need to change."

Was the Carabao Cup a missed opportunity?

"We said, all the competitions are important, for sure, but also now we have different competitions that are still there and we can be more focused on that. We are sad that we lost the game, for sure, because we said many times this is something we don't like. Now, we have two games to prepare for the next game."

How were Newcastle different than on Sunday?

"I didn't see a big difference. I think the last game they were more or less in the same way as tonight; trying to be aggressive. Last Sunday, and today, I think we did quite well. Probably the first goal is one that we can avoid because we knew that playing through the middle, they are quite aggressive, so the solution is to go outside but it can happen. I didn't see a big difference between tonight and two days ago.

"For them, they probably need to win this game to build the momentum because of the last results."

You didn't seem to be very happy with the Anthony Gordon tackle on Marc Cucurella. Do you think it deserved more than a yellow card?

"I prefer not to talk about the referee."

You seemed to struggle with the intensity of the press. Is that something your team need to get better at - recognising it themselves on the pitch?

"We need to get better at many things but we didn't concede any chances from the press two days ago against them and the reason why was because we contact not with the first line. The other day was Moi [Caicedo] and Romeo [Lavia] and today was Enzo [Fernandez], Renato [Veiga] and Marc [Cucurella] and we always tried to contact with the second line.

"The reason why is because we knew they are very aggressive. We did very well two days ago. I think we did very well apart from the goals we conceded but for sure, we have many things we can do better."

What did you make of Enzo Fernandez's performance?

"I said, for me, we lost the game because of 10 minutes after we conceded the first goal. After that, for 10 minutes, we lost the control. After that, we need more control but it's not only from Enzo, it's in general."

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