Hello and welcome for live coverage of Enzo Maresca’s post-match press conference. Chelsea have just beaten West Ham United at the London Stadium in a very convincing performance from the travelling Blues.
Unsurprisingly, there was more praise from Maresca afterwards, who highlighted the importance of his work-rate out of possession. “It was a complete performance,”
Guido Rodriguez suffered the ignominy of being hooked after 38 minutes in West Ham’s loss to Chelsea. He had been wretchedly poor and he was not the only one. But the bigger issue was the tactical tweak which left the home side overrun in midfield.
Having used a back four in West Ham’s first four Premier League games of the season, Julen Lopetegui switched to a three, with Edson Alvarez asked to drop between Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos in the heart of their backline.
It hurt West Ham on two fronts. Firstly, because Alvarez looked desperately uncomfortable in the role, his lack of pace exposed. And secondly, because it ensured the home side were outnumbered in midfield, with Rodriguez and Lucas Paqueta unable to cope.
Lopetegui did not acknowledge Rodriguez as he came off but, to his credit, he took the blame for the early change himself in his press conference. “When a coach changes a player before half-time, it’s not the fault of the player, it’s the fault of the coach,” he said.
The players, collectively, must take their share of the responsibility too, of course. Especially given their baffling lack of intensity and aggression in the early stages continued in the second half. But the boos of the home fans at the London Stadium when Lopetegui substituted Crycensio Summerville in the second period showed they put the blame in the same place as the man himself.
The Chelsea manager said
Chelsea coach has termed west ham technical director Tim Tristen a sneaky weasel and hammered the club hierarchy for showing a lack of class toward his players
“It was a brilliant performance from the start to the end. We dominated and controlled everything and today we were really sharp in front of goal as well,”Chelsea skipper Cole Palmer said. “We backed up a big win last week with another great performance.”
Chelsea were booed off by their fans at halftime and the exodus continued after the break as Jackson fired a clinical shot past west goal keeper to make it 2-0 before Palmer, who got a mixed reception from the home fans, produced a stunning finish.
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