- Manchester City concluded their pre-season tour in the US with a 4-2 victory over Chelsea.
- However, concerns may arise for Enzo Maresca given his team’s display.
- The Italian coach previously assisted Guardiola during City’s treble-winning season in 2022-23.
Pep Guardiola offered support to Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea, attributing mistakes made during pre-season to the poor condition of the pitches in the United States.
Chelsea suffered a 4-2 defeat against Manchester City at Ohio Stadium, with all three goals by Erling Haaland arising from errors after Chelsea attempted to play out from the back. Similar errors occurred in their previous friendlies against Wrexham and Celtic.
Guardiola defended his long-time assistant after the match, stating, ‘I want to clarify something. These issues arose because of the pitch conditions. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t happen. It certainly wouldn’t happen at Stamford Bridge.’
‘Furthermore, I recognize Enzo’s vision for the game, and I’m fond of it. This isn’t just a compliment because he’s my friend and helped during the treble season. Today, I observed many concepts that I know he is implementing. Expecting a team to be ready to win the Champions League after just two weeks of training? That’s unrealistic. I’m a big admirer of his work and believe he will succeed.
‘It will be challenging for us to secure a result at Stamford Bridge. It’s always tough there. He did an exceptional job at Leicester, and I’m confident he will replicate that success with this remarkable squad. It should be a promising season for him.’
Pep Guardiola (right) defended his former assistant Enzo Maresca (left) after their troubles playing out from the back in pre-season.
Chelsea suffered their second defeat in the United States after a significant 4-2 loss to Manchester City.
Erling Haaland capitalized on defensive mistakes made by Chelsea to score a hat-trick in Ohio.
Chelsea conceded two goals within a matter of minutes, both resulting from attempts to play out from the back. Haaland completed his hat-trick in the second half when Chelsea again lost possession in their defensive third.
Following the match, instead of remaining in Columbus, Chelsea’s players traveled to Atlanta to utilize the training facilities there. Next, they will head to Charlotte to face Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Maresca, however, was less keen to blame the playing surface, stating: ‘The pitch did not assist us. The way we prefer to play requires a quicker surface, but it was slowing us down.’
‘We need to learn from these instances. More critical than the goals we allowed is that we cannot concede one goal and then another in quick succession. I made it clear to the players that we need to improve. When we concede, we must grow stronger to prevent further goals.’
