Maresca’s bizarre reaction to chance to praise Malo Gusto after 12 passes into final third and 2 G/A | OneFootball

Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 at Stamford Bridge today to earn 3 important points.

The man of the match accord to FotMob was Malo Gusto, and that should not be a surprise. He got a goal and an assist and played really well all around.

He completed 4 of 6 long balls, and his 12 passes into the final third were the most on the pitch – more than Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, Illiman Ndyiaye or anyone else. He had two shots on target, the most in the game.

Gusto praised – sort of – by Enzo Maresca

A Chelsea generic group celebration. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

After the match, Enzo Maresca spoke about his right back in his press conference, although when given the chance to praise the full back, the managed turned it into praise for the whole team, then into a rant about a lack of support:

“Yeah, but again, [as well as individual performances] it’s the effort from the players. We said many times that Reece and Malo, they are both full-backs and today they were both midfielders,” Maresca said.

“So the effort, the open mind, the way they want to learn has been fantastic and this is the reason why I praise the players because with so many problems, they are doing very well after a complicated week. Since I joined the club, the last 48 hours have been the worst 48 hours since I joined the club because many people didn’t support us. So I’m very happy for Malo in that moment that the effort from Malo and from the rest show that they are all there and they want to help this club.”

In other news…

Enzo Maresca had a rather surprising rant midway through his presser, claiming he had just had his worst 48 hours at the club due to a lack of support.

Maresca talked about Cole Palmer’s impact on his return to the team, noting that the team had been without their star man for long periods of the season.