Maresca very happy with ‘serious’ Chelsea performance in 5-0 win over Barrow AFC

Any time a top flight team meet a lower league team, a lopsided win in favor of the former is expected. Anything less simply won’t do to satisfy.

And yet, it’s very easy for the higher ranked team to underestimate the opposition, even if that may not necessarily result in a true Magic of the Cup™ moment.

So while Chelsea’s complete dominance over fourth division-leading Barrow AFC was nothing short of expected, the team’s focused, professional, ruthless approach was a welcome sight nonetheless — including for head coach Enzo Maresca, who challenged his young charges before the match to deliver precisely just such a performance.

“Very happy with the performance, with the result. […] This type of game, I’m always worried a lot because they are tricky games. Football is full of these games, where you underestimate the other team; you concede goals and you concede chances but tonight I think the performance was very good and we showed how serious we are.”

“[…] Before the game I asked the players that even if they are the youngest team in the Premier League to show how serious we are to me but also to send a message that, yes, we are young but we are serious and want to compete.”

These types of games tend to feature a lot of rotation as well, which can be a factor in teams not living up to expectations. But despite a fully rotated starting XI, as well as a few tactical wrinkles, the execution did not suffer: certainly a promising sign as we head into the meaty part of the early-season schedule.

“We did many changes, but the idea from the team was exactly the same. This has to be one of our targets, no matter how we are going to play, it is important that the identity of the team is always there.”

“[We] prepare the game on how the other team is defending or attacking so we try to find a solution. Palace was one plan, today was another plan. Today in the first half, Malo and [in the second half] Chilwell were playing like attacking midfielders on the ball to just create an overload in some part of the pitch so the guy with the ball has more options to pass, not just one, then he can decide. The idea is to give them more solutions and then they decide.”