“Then push” – Enzo Maresca claims poor first half vs Copenhagen was all part of the plan

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“Then push” – Enzo Maresca claims poor first half vs Copenhagen was all part of the plan

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has claimed that the poor first half in last night’s game was just all part of the plan, as it was in the 1st leg.

Chelsea beat Copenhagen 1-0 on Thursday night to advance into the quarter finals of the Conference League, winning the tie 3-1 on aggregate.

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It wasn’t easy for Chelsea though and once again they were very bad in the first 45 minutes. It took a stunning solo goal from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to get The Blues over the line and into the next round.

Enzo Maresca made some big changes at half time, although one of them, removing youngster Josh Acheampong, received some criticism. Maresca has since explained his thinking behind that move.

But the bottom line is that Chelsea are through and Chelsea advance in a competition that they are expected to win.

In the first half, Chelsea did not manage one single attempt on Copenhagen’s goal. Not even talking about shots on target, I’m talking about shots towards the goal – there was ZERO attempts in 45 minutes. Chelsea were horrendous that first 45 and were lucky to not be a goal or two down.

But it was all part of the plan​

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Enzo Maresca directs the game from the sideline. (Photo by Chris Lee/Chelsea FC)

Maresca seems to suggest that they were just sitting back and analysing in the first half, as they did in the first leg of this tie as well, ready to attack and win the game in the second half.

He said after the game:

“The first and second leg were similar. We planned to analyse and then push in the second half in both matches.”

That’s now been four wins in a row for Maresca’s side, and on that he said:

“We have kept three clean sheets and four wins. Now we have the last effort on Sunday. Then after the international break Nico [Jackson] and Noni [Madueke] will be back and it’s the final sprint.”

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