Maresca praises 'professional and serious' Chelsea for easy win over FC Noah
Today at 02:29 AM
Post-match reaction from the boss
There's a significant gulf in class, resources, and talent levels between Chelsea and the vast majority of our potential opposition in the UEFA Conference League, and perhaps that's never been more extreme than when facing the lowest-ranked (by UEFA coefficient) team at home last night.
As such, Chelsea were expected to win, and to win easily, and to win big.
And we delivered on all those expectations.
That may sound like we were barely meeting minimum requirements, but we could've easily scored in double-digits and perhaps even made a run at toppling the club record for our biggest win ever (still stands as the 13-0 against Jeunesse Hautcharage in the 1971 Cup Winners' Cup, one leg of a 21-0 aggregate scoreline).
But unlike that part-time semi-professional outfit from Liechtenstein, FC Noah are an actual professional team, with plenty of experience and reasonable talent on the pitch and in the dugout. They came through four (4!) rounds of qualifying just to get into the league phase, and had won one of their first two games in this phase as well.
But because we treated this game with the attention and focus it deserved, they never stood a chance.
That may sound easy, but it's not necessarily so. Head coach Enzo Maresca was happy to recognize that in his post-match assessment, which focused on his players' professional approach and execution — a theme that he had touched on before in similar midweek engagement.
"The players, once again, showed how professional and serious they are. It's very easy to sleep, or fall down, in these kind of games. Football is full of surprise. I said to them before the game to show how serious we are, how professional. I think they showed that and it's an important message for all of us."
"We have to be serious. It's never easy, as I said before: football is full of surprise. If you are not ready mentally, if you do not take it seriously, you can drop against any team. The most important thing is that we are serious, we are professional. This is the right thing we needed to show tonight."
-Enzo Maresca; source: Football.London
The win leaves Chelsae in command of the Conference League table, with a whopping 16 goals scored in just three games.
Let's hope we saved a few for Sunday!
