Enzo Maresca has spent the better part of his tenure as Chelsea manager arguing against the notion that his team are worthy of being called title contenders but after their loss to Manchester City in the most recent Premier League match week, the Italian gaffer has now stated that his team is a much better team than they were a month ago.
A month ago, Chelsea was one of the best sides in the Premier League but for a few hiccups, the whole team, led by Maresca, had to continually deny being worthy of the Premier League title.
“It’s not about how many games we win. It’s about being realistic. There are things we have to do better. That’s why I said, for me, we are not ready.
“The fans, they can dream and think. But us inside as a club, as a squad, as players, as coaching staff, we need to be realistic,” said Marseca after defeating Brentford in December to go into second place behind Liverpool.
His players, including Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer also ruled the club out of the title race, with Noni Madueke even going as far as claiming that he does not know what that meant when quizzed about Chelsea’s performances that got people talking.
The former Tottenham Hotspur under 16 captain said to BBC in December: “I don’t even know what that is. I don’t think so. We are just competing with ourselves, trying to improve and be better every day. For that title race talk, what in December? I am not indulging in that. The race hasn’t even started.”
All of these comments were made when Chelsea were in a good spot, climbing up the table and dispatching opponents easily or with the kind of fight expected of championship contenders. However, Maresca believes that now that the team is in a slum—they are down to sixth on the log barely a month on from those comments—they are a better team.
“In my opinion, we are a better team than one month ago or two months ago because in this kind of moment, these kinds of games, for sure they are going to make us better because we need to live this experience,” the former Leicester City boss said after losing to Manchester city over the weekend.
“I said two weeks ago, from now on, we can be third, we can be fourth, fifth or sixth…the games until the end [of the season] now can change [our position] a little bit.
“The good thing is that we are focused and we are trying to improve game after game.’
