Chelsea: Enzo Maresca calls for calm after Blues' shaky start to the season

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·29 de setembro de 2025

Chelsea: Enzo Maresca calls for calm after Blues' shaky start to the season

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Enzo Maresca insists there is no reason to “panic”, despite Chelsea’s shaky start to the season.

Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Brighton last Saturday in what was already their third loss of the season in all competitions.

The Blues have won just three of their eight games, with one of those victories coming against League One side Lincoln last week.

Maresca, however, is not concerned and has called for calm ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Benfica.

“In this moment, I think we need to be positive first of all because it’s what the players need,” he said.

“Second, because personally I think there is no reason to be negative this morning. The club showed me the stats that in the last six months we lost five games, four of them with a red card.

“So for sure, we like winning games, there is no doubt. But also the reality is that there is not any pressure.

“The pressure we have is the pressure that we know that being at Chelsea as a player, as a manager you need to win games, no doubt.

“But at the same moment the reality is that for different reasons, injuries and red cards, we lost five games in almost six months. But at the same time I think it’s something not bad.

“The stats is that in the last almost six months we lost five games, four of them with a red card. Newcastle, Flamengo, Man Utd and Brighton.

“And the only game that we lost 11 vs 11 was Bayern Munich away. That’s why I said for me, personally, there is not any reason that we need to panic knowing that football is a crazy world.”

Maresca stressed he is still “learning” as a manager and one of the areas he is trying to improve is playing with 10 men.

Chelsea have had a player sent off in each of their past two Premier League games - and they went on to fall to defeat in both matches.

“Me personally as a manager, I think I feel better than last year,” he said. “The reason why is because I’m learning.

“For sure there are many, many things that I need to learn. For instance playing with 10 players is something that probably I need to do better. But it’s part of the process and I don’t have any doubt that in the future we’re going to be better and better.”

Chelsea will face a Benfica side who are coached by their former boss Jose Mourinho, who took charge earlier this month.

Mourinho is expected to get a warm reception from the fans at Stamford Bridge given his record there, and Maresca is looking forward to the encounter.

“Its a privilege to face Jose,” said Maresca. “For me personally he is a legend for this club.

“For me, he is also a legend for Inter when we won the Champions League. So it is a legend for different clubs in the world that shows how good he has been and how good he was at Chelsea.”