Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca gave his reaction after watching from the stands as his team beat Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Maresca was sent off against Liverpool before the international break due to picking up a second yellow card for his wild celebrations during the 95th-minute winner. That meant he was banned from being in the dugout for this game.
The first half at Forest was tough to watch for the Italian coach but after a triple sub at half time worked a treat he was sitting more comfortably in the second half as Chelsea recorded back-to-back victories in the Premier League and three in a row in all competitions.
Below is the latest Enzo Maresca reaction.
Enzo Maresca reaction
On Ange Postecoglou being sacked: “I feel really sorry. It is always a shame. But we’ve said many times unfortunately it is a business where you need to win games otherwise for all of us it is the same consequence.”
On how Forest performed against Chelsea: “I think they were first half very good. They tried to play their game. We struggled a bit first half. Second half we were much better and at the end we scored three goals and could have scored a few more and deserved to win the game.”
On the much improved second half compared to first half: “First of all I think we were better, also because we expect them to be more aggressive in the first half. We changed something tactically. Overall we deserved to win the game.”
On Josh Acheampong scoring his first goal at aged 19: “Very happy but people think you trust a player only if he plays. If he doesn’t play you don’t trust a player. I trust Josh since last season. He played different games from the start. With young players I like to be calm with them but Josh is fantastic player and he will be the future of this club.”
On Reece James being fit for this game: “It’s very important. He’s already fit for a long time, fortunately for us. Hopefully he can be fit for more games. Since I started and we arrived we are trying to manage him because we know he had some problems in the past. But now he looks completely better.”
On his team overcoming attacking injuries to be the highest scorers in the league: “It means that they are good. We try to give them the tools. They are good.”
On another red card: “For sure it’s a mistake. It is almost 90 minutes. It’s 3-0. We don’t need to make the second foul. But also show the desire of the players that they want to fight, they don’t want to concede, so I think yes there is a mistake. But there is also the positive part that Malo doesn’t want to lose that duel and to concede a transition or concede a goal because we also play for a clean sheet. Yes, it is not good but the desire to win games it important.”
