Chelsea finish pre-season tour of USA with 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in North Carolina; new Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is hoping to solve a problematic high line before their Premier League opener at home against Manchester City on Sunday August 18, live on Sky Sports - kick-off 4.30pm
Wednesday 7 August 2024 11:15, UK
Enzo Maresca failed to conceal a slight smile at the word 'paciencia'.
The Chelsea head coach had turned translator, and he was fielding a question in Spanish to convert to English before answering.
A journalist enquired what Maresca had made of Carlo Ancelotti's comments complimenting his knowledge and football principles.
The Real Madrid boss marked Maresca as the perfect fit for Chelsea's young squad and implored the club's owners to give him 'paciencia'- patience.
Ancelotti is well placed to comment on someone he has known for 24 years; a relationship that started when he signed Maresca from West Bromwich Albion for Juventus, and has continued since.
The Chelsea boss answered by saying there are very few people in football who possess a greater understanding of what is required to be successful than Ancelotti - so if the 65-year-old tells Chelsea to give Maresca time, they should.
Will they though? That has been the nagging question while watching Maresca from close quarters as he tries to reengineer the west Londoners as a team that own the ball, while ridding them of bad habits.
He is impressive; self-assured, authoritative, open to being put on the spot, and he has a sense of humour.
There is a confidence and calm about him that stands in contrast to the state of the club in recent years.
Maresca fits neatly into the packed category of the coach not being the problem at Stamford Bridge, even though pre-season has been unforgiving.
Real Madrid were the latest to outsmart Chelsea, who got smashed by Celtic, schooled by Manchester City, and drew with Wrexham. Their sole victory on tour came against Club America.
While scorelines in the embryonic stage of this adjustment period are not important, mistake management is.
Chelsea have to stop playing a high line without pressure against the ball. It is such a clear weakness that when I asked Maresca about it in Charlotte, he admitted he had flagged it in his first meeting with the team.
They leak too many goals because they are too high and too passive.
What they are doing is not by instruction but out of habit. Maresca wants them slightly deeper so Chelsea can have more control.
He has also spent the pre-season tour of the US experimenting to work out the shape and combinations that will grant Chelsea balance.
"We are trying different things, in terms of one game we play with the right full-back inside, then the left full-back inside, and against Manchester City, we played with the left full-back higher," he explained.
"With the number nine, we play with [Marc] Guiu and Christopher [Nkunku]. In terms of the winger we played with [Tyrique] George, the young guy from the academy. We are trying different things. For sure, the club and me are together, we know what we need before we finish the transfer window."
Maresca has played Mykhailo Mudryk on the right, even though he is better on the opposite flank. Despite viewing Nicolas Jackson as a No 9, he would use him as a winger if required.
Maresca is, as one source put it, "a problem-solver rather than a problem-finder" and it has showed.
The tour has been far from ideal; too many games, uncomfortably humid weather conditions, pitches not fit for elite football, and travel impeding full match preparation.
For those reasons, Maresca has termed the "real pre-season" the time before and after the US - the two weeks Chelsea had at Cobham before flying Stateside and the 10 days they will have at the training ground ahead of the Premier League kicking off.
However, Maresca will find a severely bloated squad back at base and when I quizzed him over whether he would ideally like a smaller squad, it is blatantly obvious lots of trimming will need to be done.
Conor Gallagher should be in the colours of Atletico Madrid soon, with Samu Omorodion going in the opposite direction.
Beyond selling well, Chelsea require their big buys to consistently deliver: Mudryk, Nkunku, Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo…
The Ecuadorean midfielder, signed for £115m, has admitted the pressure of his price tag hindered him last season.
Caicedo lost confidence in himself and belief in his abilities. He only started to feel like he truly belonged at Chelsea in the final four months of his debut campaign with former manager Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff helping him through the turbulent stretch.
"They were with me when I felt like I was not the same Moises," Caicedo said, detailing his plea of 'please help me because I want to show my quality, my football'.
"They were with me. I have a person outside of the club who helped me a lot to get the pressure out of my mind."
That has been a performance coach who sits with Caicedo after every match and goes through his game. "He told me, 'Moises, you are a good player, you can do whatever you want on the pitch with responsibility. Just trust in yourself. If Chelsea paid that for you, it's because you are a very good player'."
Caicedo is confident he will play his best football again under Maresca, who is looking to employ the system the midfielder was comfortable with at Brighton.
"The coach wants the same from me as I did there," Caicedo explained. "He wants me to show my quality, to have good personality, to show to my team-mates that I am the boss on the pitch. For sure, I will be a good player with him."
Will we witness the best out of Caicedo again? Will Maresca be afforded the time to execute his vision? Will we have a greater idea of what the modern Chelsea wants to be?
Pre-season has offered little direction to the above. It is time for paciencia.
