By Daily Sports Nigeria on December 31, 2024

Chelsea coach, Enzo Maresca, has stated that his side’s 2-0 defeat to Ipswich Town on Monday was ‘a strange game’, acknowledging that there are some football games that do not go according to plan.

Reacting to defeat in a post obtained from the club’s website on Tuesday, the Italian said the Blues created plenty of chances in either half at Portman Road, adding that there was an offside goal for Joao Felix and Cole Palmer hit the post during the opening period, but ultimately it was Ipswich who left with all three points after Liam Delap’s penalty on 12 minutes and a goal early in the second half from ex-Chelsea winger Omari Hutchinson.

Maresca said: “It was a bit of a strange game. We created so many chances in the first half, and in the first five or 10 minutes of the second half, we had two clear chances: the header from Joao.

“Then I think the second goal killed the game a little bit. Sometimes, when you create so many chances, the post, the VAR, the ‘keeper saves, or the defenders that block the shot, it has to go in that way.

‘It’s a shame because it was another chance for us but congratulations to them because probably when you save so many shots on the line, the goalkeeper, the body, the desire from them was very high.”

Chelsea have suffered consecutive defeats for the first time under Maresca following the 2-1 loss to Fulham on Boxing Day, and have taken one point from a possible nine having also drawn O-O with Everton on December 22.

The Blues’ great start to life under the Maresca reign means the pride of London is still in fourth, though, just one point below third-place Arsenal and two points below Nottingham Forest in second.

Fielding questions on the team’s physical condition, he said, “No, tonight’s game, I don’t
think it’s physical or condition. When you play, and you don’t create chances, you don’t create anything, and you are not dangerous, then you can say, we probably struggled physically, we are not good enough, or we are not fresh.

“But when you create so many chances, the post, the amount of chances, the VAR; I think we have so many chances in the first half. In the second half, we started in the same way. We have two clear chances and then the second goal kills the game. It is just a matter that sometimes it is not the right day for us,” he averred.

Chelsea’s first game in the new year is against an old foe, Crystal Palace, on Saturday, where the Blues have lost two, won two, and drew one in the last five matches against the Eagles.

Source Punch Ng

Posted December 31, 2024

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