Top News

Every word Enzo Maresca said on Chelsea injuries, his 'regret' and calling out players
Football | December 5, 2025 9:40 PM CST

Enzo Maresca has just completed his pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea's Premier League clash with Bournemouth this weekend.

The Blues go down to the Vitality Stadium on Saturday afternoon looking for the perfect response to being beaten at Leeds United on Wednesday night. Maresca has just been previewing the fixture in his press conference, and below is the full transcript from Cobham:

Anyone missing tomorrow?

  • Enzo Maresca hits out at Chelsea star in unprovoked dig and names surprise 'regret'
  • Every word Enzo Maresca said on fresh Chelsea injury blow, Cole Palmer fitness, Leeds clash

Just Moi [Caicedo] is suspended, and then we don't have any new injuries.

How long until Romeo Lavia returns?

It's a muscular problem, and we don't know yet when he can be back.

Is it long-term or short-term for Lavia?

We don't know.

How did the players react after the defeat? Did you shout at them?

Since the end of the game, I didn't see the players, because we came back from Leeds yesterday afternoon, and I will see the players in a while, and we're going to have time just to focus on tomorrow's game, because in less than 24 hours we have another game.

Surely you do have to look back and ask some questions of your players?

Yeah, I just said I didn't see the players yesterday, but I wish to come back for sure. We did many things, but probably we also paid the bill to play one hour with ten players against Arsenal. We also probably paid the bill in terms of Leeds away, probably in some way can be more complicated than the previous game. And as I said, we watch the game, and there are things that for sure we need to avoid in the future.

How much is the rotation costing you and making as many changes as you did on Wednesday?

Most of the rotation we do is because the other one they cannot play. So we have players that they are, in this moment, not able to play every three days. And the reason why most of the rotation we have done in the past is for this, is for the reason why. When you pick 11 players and you win, everything is fine. When you pick 11 players and you don't win, there is always a reason why, for sure. Again, I think we playing with 10 players for one hour and then after three days go to Leeds is not the best situation for us. But in the future, in case it happens, we need to be better, we need to do many things better.

Did a lack of leadership cost you?

It's not that. I love a young squad, I love young players and I'm delighted with the players I have.

How come Josh Acheampong didn't play vs Leeds?

One of the regrets I have after the game is I didn't play with Josh. So the reason why we played with Trev [Chalobah], Tosin and Benoit [Badiashile] is because analysing them, we saw that most of the time they were playing long ball for Calvert-Lewin, for Nmecha. And so we prefer physicality to win aerial duels. But even with that, we lost most of them.

How difficult will Bournemouth away be?

I think Bournemouth will be a similar game to Leeds. That's where we need to be better. They are intense, Leeds was very intense. I think I said after the game that they were better than us in all the aspects and hopefully we can learn from that and be ready for tomorrow.

Is the expectation at Chelsea higher than at other clubs and does that make being able to rotate more difficult?

I don't know for the other clubs for sure. I know our situation that we need, as I said many times, we are players because of the history that we need to manage. Wes [Fofana], Reece [James], Pedro [Neto]. We have four or five players, Romeo is injured, but we are four or five players that for their history we need to protect, we need to manage. And I said many times that I would like to play all the game with Reece, with Pedro, with Moi, with these kind of players even, with Romeo. But it's not possible so we try to find a different solution.

Were you surprised by the performance against Leeds, especially after Barcelona and Arsenal? Did you think those kind of performances, those kind of games could go on?

I was very surprised about the performance, no doubt, because I expect more in general, in all the aspects. But also, again, when we prepared the game, we analysed all the small details, we were aware about the Arsenal game, to play with 10 players for one hour, making some rotation because we need to protect players. So we were ready that probably in some moments we struggled, but not for the entire game.

Do you think there should be more focus on bringing in experienced players in the transfer windows?

Listen, we always talk about experience when we drop points. When we beat Barcelona, we drew against Arsenal, no one was mentioning about experienced players. So, again, I understand that when we don't win, we are always looking for the reason why, but I think the reason why we didn't win against Leeds is not because of the experience, it's because we were not good enough. But we have experienced players. Unfortunately, they were not inside the pitch. One because he was suspended, the other one because of injury. So, it's because in that moment, the ones that have more experience, they were out. Who is the oldest one for us in the pitch? Who was? Tosin. Did he play good? So, it's not about experience. It's about that 11 players, they were not good enough. I know that we are always looking for experience, but it was a bad game for all of us.

How difficult is it for you to keep having to rotate?

Yeah, it's the most difficult thing for me, personally, this season. Because, as I said, for many reasons, we need to make changes. Now, we played two days ago, we came back yesterday afternoon. We have just one session this morning. Most of them, they cannot take part of the session because they need to recover. So, we're going to try to prepare in the best way tomorrow.

Estevao Willian was taken off with Leeds targeting him, does he need to learn from Wednesday night?

My feeling was not that Leeds targeted him. I think my feeling after the game is that Leeds, they target all our players. It was not just Estevao. For him, my comment after the game is because he's 18, he's from Brazil, he probably didn't know where we were going to play. And when, you know, probably the English players, they know Leeds, how it is. Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, you know, they are all stadiums but they are a bit different compared to the rest in terms of environment. And it's something that will be a process for him to be better and better. That's why I said many times that also with him, it's too easy to put him always on the pitch, you know, pitch, pitch, play, play, play. But in some moments, we need to try to manage him a little bit.

Why has Facundo Buonanotte not been playing?

No, it's because Facu is working well. He played some games at the beginning for many reasons, because Cole [Palmer] was injured, because Liam [Delap] was injured, so we had more space for him. But in this moment, we have all the players back. The game against Leeds, Wes was not even in the squad, Ty [George] was not even in the squad, Facu was not even in the squad. So there is not any reason why it's just because we have already players in his position, but they are back.


READ NEXT
Cancel OK