Chelsea boss sings from all-too-familiar hymn sheet after Man City loss

Enzo Maresca’s post-match comments after his team’s loss to Manchester City suggest that he has been encouraged by the performance of the team despite disappointment in the result.

Maresca’s focus on performance is not unusual for a manager that is new to his position but he may soon learn that the Stamford Bridge top brass measure of success is results.

After all, Chelsea looked like they were making progress in the latter half of last season under Mauricio Pochettino but the Argentine mentor was elbowed out at the end of the campaign.

Chelsea’s bosses shouldn’t need to be convinced that the first-team squad contains plenty of top-quality players who can put in great performances.

They might be a fraction nervous after the first competitive outing for Chelsea under Maresca lacked the finished product.

After the opening weekend, Maresca appears to be leading the Premier League sack race.

Maresca’s post-match comments could have come out of a media manual as he said all the things you would expect a man in his position to say after a loss to the reigning champions.

“I thought our performance was good. We don’t like to lose but I thought the performance was there. We competed against the best team in the world and we competed for large parts at the same level and in some moments were even better,” Maresca said.

“We created chances and I think the big difference between us and them was especially in the box and the way they managed the ball in the last parts of the game but they are masters at that.

“Overall, I think our performance was quite good.”

Maresca seems to be under the impression that there is light at the end of the tunnel for this Chelsea team.

For club with a wage bill the size of Chelsea’s the bar gets set pretty high for managers even when they first arrive.

The mentor added that he was suprised by the progress made by the team but it would be a shock if ownership are just as positive as he is right now.

“I said the other day that I didn’t expect the team to already be this [far] ahead so the direction is a good one and I don’t have any doubt that day by day we are getting better and we are going to have days where we win games and we will be happier,” Maresca said.

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The manager was thrilled with how the attack and midfield shaped up despite failing to break down Man City over the 90.

He felt the performance needed to be interpreted against the backdrop of the match being the first where Chelsea have deployed a front three of Cole Palmer, Nicholas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku.

“The reason [this was the attacking trio’s] first game together was because Nico was injured and Cole was not with us, whereas Christo was with us since day one. I think all of them did a good game,” the coach added.

“We have used Christo already in different positions but I think all of them, even Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo…I think they all did a good game.”