'Another pre-season for those left at Cobham'
- Published
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca gave his players the day off after facing Crystal Palace but this week will be like another pre-season for those left at Cobham.
The Italian has said he feels his players are ahead of where he expected them to be at this stage of the season as he imparts his extensive tactical ideas which involve detailed patterns of play, possession hoarding and a defensive approach where cutting out counter-attacks is the key.
Although ahead of schedule, there is plenty of work to do after two wins, a draw and two defeats in the first five matches highlighted issues.
New signing Jadon Sancho is among those training at Cobham and has arrived in good shape and will be working alongside Marcus Bettinelli, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile, Tosin Adarabioyo, Cesare Casadei, Marcu Guiu and Christopher Nkunku.
Chelsea have played well in the league but not the Conference League which shows that those on the fringes are not adapting as quickly to Maresca as the regular starters.
Also, the Blues will hope to have all of Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Malo Gusto back at the end of the break for the trip to Bournemouth when the Premier League restarts.
