Enzo Maresca defiant over bombshell ‘worst 48 hours’ at Chelsea comment

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca remained defiant over his bombshell comments that he had suffered his “worst 48 hours” at the club when asked to clarify the confusing sentiment.

Maresca caused a stir over the weekend when, following Chelsea’s routine 2-0 victory over Everton, he used his post-match press conference to claim out of the blue that he had endured a torrid few days.

Having given not even the slightest hint of an issue during his pre-match press conference, which took place at the heart of the supposed 48-hour storm – shortly after a 2-1 Champions League loss to Atalanta – Maresca responded to a benign question about Malo Gusto’s impressive performance against the Toffees by hitting out.

“The last 48 hours have been the worst 48 hours since I joined the club because so many people didn’t support us,” he insisted, leading to speculation he was referencing the club’s ownership or sporting directors.

He went on to reiterate the point but refused to elaborate on who he was specifically talking about, simply stating “many people” and when asked whether it was an internal issue, responding that it was people “in general”.

When asked if it referred to the fans, the Italian only said, “I love the fans and we are very happy with the fans”.

On Monday afternoon, in his pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against League One side Cardiff City on Tuesday, Maresca was inevitably asked to expand on his explosive comments.

However, the 45-year-old was defiant and refused to explain or address the situation.

“I already spoke about that and I don’t have nothing to add,” said Maresca. “It’s Cardiff tomorrow, please. I already spoke about that and I think I was quite clear. No more than that.”

When asked again, the Chelsea boss added: “I respect your opinion and I respect people's opinion but again I have nothing to add. My focus is on tomorrow’s game and that we can achieve the third semi-final in 18 months since I joined the club.”

Pushed again, he said: “We are in an era where everyone can say what they think. My focus is on tomorrow. I already answered the question and my focus is on tomorrow. I don't have nothing to add.”

Maresca was then asked whether he had explained what he meant to people at the club, to which he reiterated he “already spoke about that” and didn’t “need to add more things”.

He was also questioned as to whether he was happy with people saying he has a bad relationship with club’s owners or sporting directors and turned his answer to the fans.

“I said after the game that I love Chelsea supporters – they deserve the best,” Maresca insisted. “Again, I don't have nothing to add.

“I can speak Italian, my language, Spanish very well, French, English, I think I was clear with what I said. It’s done, it’s finished. It was after the game, I said what I said, and it’s done. It’s finished. Now, Cardiff. We need to move forward because tomorrow we have Cardiff.”

Maresca did confirm that he was “absolutely” committed to being Chelsea head coach and was keen to maintain a winning mentality with a semi-final place in the Carabao Cup at stake.

“Since I joined the club, I always tried to say the same; building a winning mentality by winning games,” added Maresca. “Tomorrow is another chance to be in another semi-final and it's an important moment for everyone at the club.

“I think we are in the right direction. There are some moments where we dropped some points but it is part of the journey. I have the feeling we are getting better and better.”

Maresca was keen to stress that the Blues would not be taking Cardiff, who are four points clear atop the League One table, lightly but that he would employ some squad rotation, with talisman Cole Palmer not fit enough to play again so soon after Saturday’s clash with Everton.

“We are going to make some changes,” he confirmed. “We will see how many but for sure, we need some players to recover the energy.

“I already said many times, Cole is one of the players that deserves to be protected. He is not available to play two games in three days.”