Maresca sees midfielder as more like Enzo than Caicedo and explains his lack of minutes | OneFootball

Fans are never 100% happy, and there’s always something the manager is doing that they would do differently.

That’s just the nature of the beast, and despite some solid achievements as Chelsea coach so far, Enzo Maresca is taking flak in this Club World Cup for not using Andrey Santos enough.

He came on as a sub in the final group game, but has otherwise sat on the bench. After 2 years of waiting to see him in action, fans aren’t too happy. The coach was forced to address the Brazilian midfielder’s situation in his press conference this morning.

Manager asks for time for Andrey Santos

Andrey Santos celebrates his latest Chelsea appearance. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

“Andrey is working with us, he’s working well. He worked already with us last summer in the pre-season, so we know Andrey a little bit. His season has been very good, but I think you need time to adapt. The important thing is that he’s working well,” the coach said to explain the slow roll.

He also noted that he didn’t see Santos as a number 6, and instead compared him to Enzo Fernandez:

“In terms of position, I see Andrey in this moment more like Enzo’s position than Moises or Romeo’s position.”

Maresca doubles down on Andrey Santos assessment

He doubled down on this assessment later, on, calling Santos more attacking than defensive and claiming his physicality would be useful in the Premier League:

“And the reason why is because we are here in this moment for this tournament, but we also need to plan for next season, which is the Premier League. And you know that in the Premier League, first of all, you need to be physically strong, because the Premier League demands to be physically strong. So in this moment, I see Andrey as a more attacking midfielder than a defensive midfielder.”