Rival fans are already used to this – seeing Pep Guardiola praise their team and managers before and after a game. The latest “victims” of the Spaniard’s praise is the new-look Chelsea, led by his former assistant manager, Enzo Maresca.
Maresca left Guardiola’s side in June of 2023 to take over the reins at Leicester City, who were relegated to the second tier of English football after the 2022/23 season. His first and only year with the Foxes was a huge success and he let go of two more years of building with Leicester to take over from Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea.
It has been a tough adaptation to the rigours of top-flight football for the Italian manager. Still, against Manchester City, the Premier League’s defending champions, his ideas seeped through. Before the game, Guardiola had already praised his former assistant as a great manager in the making, urging the top brass at Chelsea as well as the club’s fans to give him some patience.
“My advice for the owners at Chelsea is to give him time and it will work,” said Guardiola at his pre-match press conference on Friday. “All the managers need time, right? I don’t know if Chelsea is the place to do the deals, but give him time and it will work, that’s my feeling.”
After the match in which he dominated the Blues at Stamford Bridge while Maresca watched and wondered how he could best his former boss, Guardiola would still speak highly of the Italian and his team in his usual style of trying to downplay his own team’s efforts.
However, he also took ample time to talk about his good fortune with the City squad, speaking about how proud he is to manage the crop of players that currently wear the City shirt. “I am so impressed but not surprised,” he said. “That’s what I expect for this level and commitment.
“It’s such a privilege and honour to be manager of this club and players. To do this after winning so well and lack of preparation.
“The good news is we won; the bad news is we have 70 more games. We will prepare Ipswich and West Ham before the international break and after that we will have the team for the season.”
The City boss then added that he told his players had to act like champions ahead of the game. “If you are the best team in England for 38 games, you are going to defend the crown,” Guardiola said.
“We have to behave like we were, a champion team. Especially in the bad moments, I like to see that.
“I said we would have to suffer, this defines the best teams. In the bad moments, we were composed and we did it.”
