Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca’s post-match thoughts were measured after his Blues were held in check by the maddening commitment of Sean Dyche’s Everton on Sunday.
[ RECAP, ANALYSIS — Everton 0-0 Chelsea ]
Scoreless draws are a Dyche stable — the Toffees have been involved in five of the rare nine nil-nils in this Premier League season — but Maresca’s used to his teams scoring multiple goals regardless of opponent.
The Blues’ march on Liverpool and a Premier League title slow for the moment thanks to the draw, though Maresca has been remiss to discuss their aspirations of silverware this season.
Enzo Maresca reaction — Chelsea manager speaks following frustrating draw at Everton
Here are some select comments from Enzo Maresca’s post-game press conference, transcribed by football.london:
His feelings on the draw: “I’m absolutely happy. I’m more happy today than the Brentford game. It’s a tricky game, tricky stadium, tricky team. They are one of the five best teams defensively in Europe in terms of clean sheets.”
On Chelsea’s inability to score: ""I said, we knew already it would be a tough game in terms of creating chances. If you see them in the last game against Arsenal, but in general, you always struggle to create chances against them. For sure, we could attack better but there was not space for Cole [Palmer]. In the last half an hour, we tried to move Enzo [Fernandez] as an attacking midfielder, with Malo [Gusto] next to [Moises Caicedo] to change something.
“But overall, in this type of game, knowing you are not going to create too many chances, you have to be clinical. In the first-half, we had the [Nicolas Jackson] one-on-one with the keeper, the post from Nico, we had another two or three chances inside the box. If you are able to be clinical there and score, then the game is probably different but until that moment, you are going to struggle.”
On Robert Sanchez’s day in goal: “I think Robert did one save first-half and then the second-half he did one more. We are happy with Robert, for sure. He is there to help us when we need him.”
More from Maresca, via Match of the Day:
“That was a real game. I am very happy because the performance of the boys was fantastic. Sometimes you have to play a different game and we are learning to play a different game. They are one of the best teams in Europe in terms of clean sheets.”
“We tried everything. For sure, you can always do something better but we are very happy because this is a tough stadium — not only for us but also in the Premier League.”
