Maresca: Isaac is the top player, we need to be a team to stop Newcastle

May 9th news: 19:00 on May 11, in the 36th round of the 2024-25 Premier League, Chelsea will play away against Newcastle. At a press conference recorded in advance after defeating Jurgarden in the second leg of the European Union semifinal, Chelsea coach Maresca talked about some of the situations in this game.

How important is this game?

—This game is very important and very critical. The game against Manchester United will be a big battle, and the game against Nottingham Forest will be a big battle. Now we have three games left, each of which is an important game. Of course, Sunday is a great opportunity to start in the right way. We are in a good shape now and in a good mood, hoping to play a good goal and win the game.

Can we expect a similar roster to last week's match against Liverpool?

—From us? Yes, we'll take a look. We still have time to prepare for the game tomorrow and Saturday, and we will watch it later.

Will early games affect your preparations?

- This is not an ideal situation. The game is at 12 noon, which is the first thing in the morning, but we need the game. So we need to adapt immediately and prepare for the game in the best way. As I said, I hope to continue our good shape.

How do you get your players to put the European game aside and focus on the end of the Premier League season?

-Tomorrow we will start preparing for Newcastle's game. We have two days, tomorrow and Saturday. Players need to focus on Newcastle’s game because it’s the next game. For us, this game is as important as the last game of the season, go all out and then we look at the results.

The midfield battle will be very important. How do you view Tonali's performance this season?

- Tonali is probably one of Newcastle's best performers this season. He did a very good job and was a very good player. I knew him when he was in Brescia, and later he went to Milan and now he came to England. He is a very good player and performs well, but they have a lot of good players. They are different types of players and we will try to prepare the game in the best way we can, in the way we think we can win the game, and hopefully in the end we will be happy with the results.

Do you prefer this kind of opponent to fight your game with all your might?

-Yes, they are very aggressive, especially when we are in possession of the ball. This team is very aggressive and they will defend one-on-one. When they are in their own half, they may take a contraction of defense. In addition, they are also very good and very aggressive in physical terms.

Do you think this will inspire your team to perform at its best?

- I hope so, we are doing well against teams that have contraction defense and aggressive defense, and hopefully we can play a good goal on Sunday.

Newcastle's midfielder has been highly praised this season. Do you hope Enzo, Lavia and Kesedo will become key components of your team in the future?

—Of course. I think after the game against Liverpool, some of you asked me and said we used the same starter six months later, and I mean, against Everton and Liverpool. It's important to be able to use the same players continuously, now that Lavia is back, Enzo and Kesedo are both doing well, and Palmer is doing a great job. Newcastle also has Guimaraes, Tonali, Murphy, and injured Jolinton, who have different types of great players, and I expect it will be a very intense game.

Is blocking Isaac the key to blocking Newcastle?

- I think Isaac is a top player, but he alone is not enough. They have a lot of other players, so we need to work as a team to stop them.

Early matches are not the ideal arrangement for you, especially after tonight, but the home atmosphere at Newcastle is very daunting, do you expect that this atmosphere will be weakened due to the early game?

—What do you think (laughs)? You never know, indeed, I don't know. But there is no doubt that the game environment will be great. The players will meet this, no doubt.

Considering the team's ranking midway through the season, are you frustrated with your current position?

-No, what frustrated me is that we created enough opportunities in many games to win, but we didn’t win. But now is not the time to think about these, what we need to do now is to win the last three games as much as possible and then look at the situation.

Do you think you should not be in this position because of those missed opportunities?

- From the data point of view, if we didn't miss those opportunities, I think we could get more points. But that's the case now, we need to win the rest of the game.

I know you don't want to specifically talk about how many points you need, but considering that you're going to play against Forests and Newcastle next, are two wins enough?

-No, we will try our best to win the remaining three games. As for how many points we need to make the top five, I don't know, because it depends on the results of other games, but we have to focus on ourselves and work hard to win those three games. As for whether two games in the end or one win is enough, we don't know yet, but our goal is to win those three games.