Chelsea Boss Still Talking About Celtic Days After Thumping

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is continuing to talk up Celtic days after his side lost 4-1 to the Scottish Premiership champions.

The Hoops ran riot in Indiana against the English Premier League outfit, marching on to a thumping victory which they were well worth.

Matt O’Riley, Kyogo Furuhashi, Luis Palma, and Mikey Johnston got on the scoresheet for Brendan Rodgers’ men as they teed themselves up for the beginning of the league campaign perfectly.

Although he didn’t play in the Bhoys’ pre-season Games, right-back Alistair Johnston was ‘blown away’ with how his side got on.

Similarly, Enzo Maresca was impressed, and after his Chelsea team got back to winning ways against Mexican side CF America overnight, he brought up Celtic.

“We struggled against Celtic for many reasons”, he said (RecordSport).

“What I didn’t like against Celtic was the habit we have defensively. For instance, to hold the line very high when there is no pressure on the ball. This is suicide. You cannot hold the line very high when there is no pressure on the ball.

“There are things that we need to improve defensively but the way we pressed against Celtic, going man-to-man against a team that is ready to start the championship, we had to be brave every time.”

Linked with the Parkhead job last summer, Maresca’s trajectory since then has been quite something.

He was the long-term replacement for Hoops boss Rodgers at Leicester, where he kicked on and sealed the Foxes’ return to the English top-flight.

The Italian was soon snapped up by Chelsea, though, and shortly into his term with the London club, he was taken aback by a Celtic team who are looking sharp ahead of the new season.