Enzo Maresca believes the difference in the physical conditioning of the teams was the biggest factor in Chelsea’s heavy defeat to Celtic on Saturday.
The Blues would have been hoping for an improved performance from the draw against Wrexham on Wednesday, but despite a bright start Celtic were a class above and ran out 4-1 winners in Indiana.
There’s no doubt some of Chelsea’s defending would have given Maresca cause for concern given how easy it was for Celtic to get in behind, and the scoreline could have been heavier had it not been for Robert Sanchez making several good saves.
The Italian made just two changes to the team that started against Wrexham with Mykhailo Mudryk and Wesley Fofana both coming in.
The Blues had early opportunities to take the lead through Carney Chukwuemeka and Christopher Nkunku, whilst Raheem Sterling hit the post in the second half.
Nkunku would score a late consolation from the spot, but the defeat leaves Chelsea with plenty to improve on before their next game against Club America.
Of course with a new manager and new way of playing it’s going to take time to get used to different tactical ideas, and although Chelsea somewhat improved in the second half there’s clearly still a lot of work to do.
After the game Maresca said he felt the biggest difference between the sides was in the physical conditioning.
“For me, it is important to realise the difference between us and them in the physical conditioning,” he told Chelsea’s website.
“You can see they had already played four games in pre-season and they are starting their official season very soon, whereas for us, we struggled a little bit physically.
“The biggest difference with us and them was the physical condition.
“It is very clear they are ready to start [their league season] and we have just had our second [pre-season] game and some of our players have only played 45 minutes so the difference was huge.”
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