Enzo Maresca wants Chelsea to sharpen up and become more clinical
The Blues were held to a draw at Crystal Palace.
Enzo Maresca feels Chelsea need to improve their intensity in training after failing to convert all but one chance in their 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
Jean-Philippe Mateta salvaged a point for the hosts in the 82nd minute at Selhurst Park on Saturday, cancelling out Cole Palmer’s 14th-minute opener.
It was a fourth straight Premier League match without a win for Maresca’s men, who remain fourth and in the Champions League places, but with just one point more than fifth-placed Newcastle.
“First of all, I always said that the important thing is to create chances,” said Maresca.
“If you create chances, that means you are doing the right things, and then you have to take those chances.
“Sometimes it’s football. Sometimes you create and you score. Sometimes you create one chance and you score one, sometimes you need to create 10 to score two.
“This moment is like this. What we can do is to try to be even more intense during the week, when we prepare (for) the game, even if the intensity or the intention of the players is top.
“But for sure it’s something that probably we need to improve, thinking that we are one of the two or three best teams in scoring goals in this moment.”
Chelsea next host Morecambe in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, when Maresca hopes Romeo Lavia will be back at his disposal.
Maresca agrees having a week to prepare will feel like a welcome chance to regroup at the end after playing 10 games across all competitions since the beginning of December.
“For sure,” he said. “Now, fortunately, they just said to me that after September, this is the first week that we have an entire week now, so we have a chance to work this week, then prepare (for) the FA Cup game and then again with the Premier League.”
After a slow start to the season and an injury-plagued first half, Palace have now lost just once in their last nine Premier League matches.
Eagles boss Oliver Glasner has also deliberately increased the intensity in training, something he feels is beginning to pay off.
He said: “If the last 30 minutes are like the first 30 minutes, I would think maybe we are tired, but when you can play with a higher intensity in the second half or the last 60 minutes than we did in the first 30 minutes, it’s not a question of physical power.
“It’s more a question of mental confidence, and this is especially now in our situation. I think the players can have more and more confidence.
“We know that we are competitive when we do it, and this is the challenge we all have together, to perform on our top level for the whole game, and then it’s possible to beat one of the top teams in the Premier League.”
