“Players will need to learn…” – Maresca explains unusual incident with Malo Gusto

Eagle-eyed Chelsea fans noted an interesting moment in last weekend’s game against Liverpool, when Maresca took advantage of a break in play to chat to Malo Gusto, who was being played out at left back and not having the best game.

In fact, Gusto appeared to be saying more than Maresca, who was listening intently to the Frenchman. There was no tension in it, but it was unusual to see a player saying so much to a manager when usually it’s the other way around in those moments.

Maresca was asked about it in his press conference today and explained it was just some live coaching in action:

“For sure it’s something that shows we are in the process, and the players will need to learn and to understand thing. That moment with Malo was just a doubt that he had in that moment, so he was asking for clarification, and we were just explaining to him, that’s all,” the coach said.

Maresca’s man management continued to get big praise from players

On a related note, Maresca was asked about the recent comments from players which praised his man management and emotional intelligence, as he balances a big squad with lots of young players in need of confidence and coaching:

“I think it’s really important, it’s part of our job, especially sometimes at half time when we have 15 minutes to adjust things, we need to use the right  words because the time is very short. So I try to use that time also to adjust things, as well as motivation and these sorts of things. I just try everything to help them.”

Mauricio Pochettino was very popular with the players, and replacing him was going to be difficult in terms of popularity – but Maresca seems to be doing a great job so far.