Enzo Maresca
Enzo Maresca faced the media following Chelsea’s exit from the Carabao Cup at the round of 16, defeated 2-0 by Newcastle United at St. James’ Park. The game saw Alexander Isak give the Magpies the lead, followed by an own goal by Axel Disasi, doubling the advantage for Newcastle.
**On the performance and result:**
Enzo Maresca said “No, I think it worked if we analyse the performance. If we analyse the result, it didn’t work. But I think for 22 or 23 minutes, until their goal, we were in control of the game, we didn’t concede nothing. But then after the goal, we lost the control for 10 minutes and then conceded the second one. In the last 10 minutes of the first-half, we had two or three clear chances that unfortunately we didn’t score. In the second-half, we were in control of the game.”
**On player substitutions and strategy:**
Enzo Maresca said “No, no, no. Simply because I think Joao [Felix] and Christo [Nkunku] were doing very good. The reason why [we brought him] was in case we needed Cole but Joao and Christo were doing well so there was no need to change.”
**Reflecting on the Carabao Cup as a missed opportunity:**
Enzo Maresca said “We are sad that we lost the game, for sure, because we said many times this is something we don’t like. Now, we have two games to prepare for the next game.”
**Comparison of the match with Newcastle to their last encounter:**
Enzo Maresca said “I didn’t see a big difference. I think the last game they were more or less in the same way as tonight; trying to be aggressive. Last Sunday, and today, I think we did quite well. Probably the first goal is one that we can avoid because we knew that playing through the middle, they are quite aggressive, so the solution is to go outside but it can happen. I didn’t see a big difference between tonight and two days ago. For them, they probably need to win this game to build the momentum because of the last results.”
**On the Anthony Gordon tackle on Marc Cucurella:**
Enzo Maresca said “I prefer not to talk about the referee.”
**Addressing the intensity of Newcastle’s press:**
Enzo Maresca said “The reason why is because we knew they are very aggressive. We did very well two days ago. I think we did very well apart from the goals we conceded but for sure, we have many things we can do better.”
**On Enzo Fernandez’s performance and the game’s pivotal moment:**
Enzo Maresca said “I said, for me, we lost the game because of 10 minutes after we conceded the first goal. After that, for 10 minutes, we lost the control.”
