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Enzo Maresca reaction: Chelsea boss on wild draw with Bournemouth “We deserved much more”

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca shared his reaction to their wild 2-2 draw against Bournemouth on Tuesday.

The Blues were 1-0 up in the first half thanks to Cole Palmer and they were absolutely cruising and should have been up by three or four.

Then Moises Caicedo gave away a penalty kick which Justin Kluivert scored and Antoine Semenyo scored for Bournemouth to make it 2-1.

In the 95th minute Reece James then scored a beauty of a free kick to make it 2-2 and save Chelsea from a shocking defeat.

Below is a look at what Enzo Maresca had to say about more dropped points for Chelsea.

Enzo Maresca reaction; Reece James reflects on late equalizer

When asked by TNT Sports in the UK if a draw was a fair result, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca did not think it was and said his side should have won the game.

“I don’t think so. I think we deserved much more. Especially first half. It’s a game that we could finish 2-0 or 3-0 in the first half with the amount of shots, chances, but it is football,” Maresca said. “The negative thing is that after we conceded the goal we completely changed the way we were playing in terms of we dropped a little bit. This is something we need to improve. Overall we completely deserved to win the game and unfortunately we didn’t win.”

Asked about Chelsea’s lack of clinical finishing costing them, Maresca admitted it keeps costing them and it’s something they have to improve.

“The most important thing is to create chances. But also we need to be clinical. It happened already in the last four, five games. Happened many times,” Maresca said. “Palace was the last game away, we were 1-0 up and create many chances, we didn’t score and then in the end we conceded. Tonight, more or less, the same happened. The only thing is in the previous game we never changed, we never dropped after we concede. Tonight we dropped after we concede the penalty. The changed a little bit, we dropped a little bit. This is something that we need to improve.”

Maresca also believed Bournemouth were lucky to finish the game with 11 players on the pitch after VAR asked referee Robert Jones to look at David Brooks pulling back Marc Cucurella but only a yellow card was given.

“Also, I think so,” Maresca said. “This season already it happened not only one time, already many times with some penalties, but hopefully we can be more lucky in the future.”

Asked if we had seen the best and worst of Chelsea in this game, Maresca pretty much agreed.

“First half was great. First half was unbelievable. Second half we were not great,” Maresca said.

Reece James scored his first Chelsea goal in over two years to grab a point late on as the Chelsea captain reflected on that moment and his return from injury.

“I knew the free kick was shooting distance, I felt like that side of the goal was open, I tried to finish it as well as I could,” James told TNT Sports. “There was a period when I was scoring quite frequently and I haven’t had that feeling in quite a long time through injuries and setbacks. I’m happy to be back with the team and get on the scoresheet again and help the team get a point.”

Did he feel a draw was a fair result?

“I don’t. I think we had a few clear-cut chances that we should have taken in the first half and maybe put the game to bed but if you don’t take chances sometimes that can come back to bite you in the ass,” James said. “I think it’s across football, globally, if you have chances in a game and you don’t take them it could come back and hurt you.”

Can Chelsea build some momentum from getting a point late on?

“There’s positives to take from the game, going behind and taking a point but there’s negatives as well in not taking the chances we should. Mixed emotions,” James added.

He was also asked about former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel taking over as England manager and if that late equalizer was a reminder to him.

“I worked under him, he knows my capabilities. I just need to get a run of games playing again,” James said.