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The Blues ended their US Tour with another defeat and their Italian head coach had interesting things to say about his predecessor’s methods last season.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has expressed concerns about the team's defensive vulnerabilities following a series of pre-season matches, including defeats to Celtic, Manchester City and recently to Real Madrid.
Chelsea vs Real Madrid
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The Blues fell behind after Lucas Vazquez opened the scoring for Los Blancos in the game's 19th minute before Brahim Diaz notched another eight minutes later to give Chelsea a mountain to climb.
Maresca's men halved the deficit before half-time through Noni Madueke, but the West London club could not capitalise on a few promising attacks after the interlude to peg back Carlo Ancelotti's side.
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The defeat ended the London club’s United States Tour, in which they suffered three defeats and conceded 12 goals in five matches, letting in two against Wrexham, four against Celtic and Man City and two against Real Madrid with the club's only clean sheet coming against Club America.
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What Maresca said about defensive bugbear
Maresca highlighted the high defensive line as a particular issue, contributing to the number of goals conceded. The Chelsea boss emphasised the need to lower the defensive line to prevent opponents from exploiting space behind the backline.
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“One of my first meetings with the squad was about the number of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line being very high,” said the Blues boss. “It is something that we are trying to work on.
“Today offensively, once again, I think we were there because the patterns are there and we created chances. The problem has been defensively and when I say defensively, I don’t just mean the defensive line. All of the players.
“Overall, [the tour] is finished and now we head back to London where we will play against Inter Milan and then our first official game.
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While recognising the team's attacking potential, the Italian stressed the importance of addressing defensive shortcomings to succeed in the upcoming season.
“It is a habit. We are not working on playing with the defensive line higher,” continued Maresca. “It is a habit from last year or from years ago. I don’t know. But we are trying to drop the defensive line by four or five metres so we have the advantage and don’t concede the balls in behind.
“Last season we conceded many goals with this problem and hopefully we can solve this problem very soon.”
What comes next?
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08:30 - 07.08.2024
Can Chelsea thrive in Conference League after concluding pre-season with just one win?
Chelsea fans worried as the Blues end pre-season tour with only one win.
Chelsea next face Serie A defending champions Inter on Sunday, August 11 at Stamford Bridge before their Premier League opener against Man City on August 18.
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