(Video): Enzo Maresca points out what his players did at full time; also blames the heat | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca was asked about Robert Sanchez’s performance in the win over Everton yesterday.

The stopper made two important late saves to keep Chelsea’s lead intact, and was mobbed at full time by appreciative teammates. Maresca was quick to point out the support that his goalkeeper got from his players.

“Robert deserved that. You can see also at the end of the game how his teammates celebrated with him, because they know that Robert in this moment needs support from all of us,” Maresca said.

It’s been another tough season for Sanchez, a third in a row where he’s lost his place in the team at some point. A good run to end the season would be huge for him.

You can see Maresca speaking in the clip embedded here:

Manager points to rising temperature for falling tempo

Chelsea players celebrate a win. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Maresca also addresses “the way the team controlled the game,” particularly in the first half where he said they had given Everton “nothing.”

In the second half he said his team “dropped” a bit, but in the first half their tempo was “very good”. He said that the warm weather, at 20 degrees, had caused them to slow down. It’s not a great excuse, especially considering they had a full week to rest before this one.

In recent games we’ve seen this team start slow and only get into gear later on, so it was interesting to see it in reverse. Now the squad is almost fully fit it should be easy to stay in games with effective late subs. Tyrique George barely saw the pitch today, and there were plenty of others who could have made a difference.

We now look ahead to the team selection for a Conference League semi which is really in the way of this crucial league run.