Maresca Laments Postecoglou’s Dismissal After Chelsea’s Rout of Forest

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca expressed his solidarity with Ange Postecoglou, who was dismissed a few minutes after the 3-0 defeat of Nottingham Forest against Chelsea at the City Ground. Postecoglou was relieved of his position after only 39 days. He failed to win any of his eight matches in charge of the club. The owner Evangelos Marinakis left his seat during the second half, when Forest was losing 2-0, and Postecoglou’s dismissal was confirmed 19 minutes after the end of the match. A promising first half for Forest was quickly forgotten six minutes into the second period, when Josh Acheampong headed in his first professional goal, before Pedro Neto scored from a free kick. The situation worsened for Postecoglou when Reece James scored from a corner, which meant Forest’s fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions and ended the 60-year-old coach’s brief period.

I didn’t speak to Ange. I didn’t see him, but I just said I’m very sorry for him.

Enzo Maresca

Maresca shared his condolences with Postecoglou in his post-match press conference.

But we said many times that this is a business where if you don’t win games, the consequence for all of us is exactly the same. So, I feel sorry for him.

Enzo Maresca

Malo Gusto was sent off after bringing down Neco Williams, and referee Chris Kavanagh showed him his second yellow card, Chelsea’s fourth red card of the season. However, Maresca is not worried about his team’s discipline.

We can improve in terms of the red card, that’s a mistake with the 3-0 already with a yellow card. We can avoid that.

Enzo Maresca

At the same time, I must say that the desire not to concede a goal is also important. Malo’s second yellow card, of course, could be avoided, but the demonstrated desire to play to keep a clean sheet and not want to concede is important.

Enzo Maresca

Maresca served a one-match suspension after being sent off against Liverpool after running along the touchline to celebrate his team’s victory. The 45-year-old coach said he prefers to be on the bench, but praised the way his team responded after the break.

Very bad feeling to be there. I prefer to be on the bench, to be honest.

Enzo Maresca

My message at halftime was: without the ball we are good, with the ball we are not good enough. We can avoid silly mistakes. We seemed careless in the build-up, which was not good enough.

Enzo Maresca