Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States ended on a sour note with a 2-1 defeat against Real Madrid. The match highlighted ongoing defensive issues for the Blues, who have now conceded 12 goals across their five US tour matches.

Enzo Maresca is still working to steer Chelsea away from Mauricio Pochettino’s previous defensive strategies.

He’s keen on avoiding the extremely high defensive line that has caused problems.

In their latest friendly, Real Madrid repeatedly exploited the space behind Chelsea’s defense with simple passes.

Maresca shared his concerns with reporters, noting, “We’ve been addressing this issue since the start of pre-season. One of our first discussions was about the number of goals we conceded last year due to our high defensive line. It’s something we’re actively trying to fix.”

Defensive Improvements on the Horizon

Despite the offensive patterns looking promising, Maresca acknowledged that defensive issues remain a major concern. “It’s not just about the defensive line but overall defensive efforts from all players. Now that the tour is over, we’ll focus on the upcoming challenges. We have Inter Milan next and then the official season opener.”

Chelsea is set to kick off their Premier League campaign against Manchester City on August 8. To avoid falling victim to Pep Guardiola’s tactics, Maresca is adjusting their defensive approach.

“We’re working on dropping the defensive line by about four or five meters. We’ve had issues with this in the past, and we hope to resolve it quickly,” Maresca added.

TDPel Media

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