Enzo Maresca takes swipe at Mauricio Pochettino as he reveals ‘problem’ with Chelsea squad since he arrived

ENZO MARESCA says Chelsea’s poor defending is a hangover from Mauricio Pochettino’s time in charge.

The Blues have shipped goals at a worrying rate in pre-season, 12 in five games, as they try to grapple with the new manager’s approach.

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Enzo Maresca is concerned by his team’s defending with just over a week to go until the new Premier League season begins[/caption]

PA

The new boss hinted at problems left behind from Mauricio Pochettino reign[/caption]

Maresca is concerned by the alarmingly high line that his side are playing that has been exploited during their tour of the United States, which concluded with a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday night.

But the Italian says it is a habit from last season, when Chelsea set a club record for goals conceded in a Premier League campaign with 63.

Maresca said: “It’s a problem we are trying to solve from pre-season, since day one.

“One of my first meetings with the squad was about the amount of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line very high.

“It’s something we are trying to work on.

“Offensively, we are there – the patterns are there. We created chances.

“The problem is defensively; when I say defensively I don’t just mean the defensive line, but in general, all the players.

“Overall now it’s finished. We head back to London. We have Inter and then an official game.”

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He added: “It’s a habit. We are not working on defensive lines so high. It’s a habit from last year, or years ago.

“We are trying to drop the defensive line a little bit, usually about four or five metres, just to have some advantage.

“Last year, we already conceded many goals with this problem. Hopefully we can solve it very soon.”

Chelsea face Manchester City on the opening day of the Premier League season, having been beaten 4-2 by the champions on this tour.

Maresca is confident that Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella, who have returned to Cobham this week after time off following the Euros, will be able to feature in the opener.

The former Leicester boss also confirmed that other senior players left at home – including Conor Gallagher, who is on the verge of a move to Atletico Madrid, and defender Trevoh Chalobah will not work with his main squad.

He added: “At this moment, the players that are here, it’s okay.

“We are going to have Cole and Marc there. It’s just two more players. The rest, I think, are doing something apart.”