Enzo Maresca very happy with second half response after ‘sloppy’ first half

“My message at half-time was [that] the way we are pressing, we are good. On the ball, we are not good enough. Because first half, we made three or four mistakes in the build-up, when we conceded. […] We can avoid that. […] It’s sloppy. We looked sloppy in the build-up. We made some mistakes that were not good enough.”

“Sometimes I’m wrong, sometimes I’m right [with the team selection] but in this moment, it’s more about protecting players. We already knew that Roméo was not going to play 90 minutes [and] Moi cannot play 90 minutes.

“[…] But also we planned the game expecting them back four, not back five. I think back four with João Pedro at No.9 is better. With back five, João Pedro at No.9 is not... [so] then after half-time, we changed.”

-Enzo Maresca; source: Football.London

Click here to read article