What Maresca did at half time against West Ham is not what you’d expect | OneFootball

Moises Caicedo was man of the match and a key figure in a Chelsea win once again on Monday night as the Blues overturned a 1-0 half time deficit to defeat their London rivals.

Asked after full time about how things had changed, the Ecuador star gave an interesting answer:

“The team showed our character in the second half. We talked between us in the dressing room. We wanted to win this game and then showed our full worth in the second half. We reacted really well,” Caicedo explained.

You might expect that “talk” to have been pretty forthright, perhaps even violent. But according to Caicedo, that wasn’t the case. It was all very calm, echoing the manager’s words after full time that patience and faith in their gameplan was the most important thing:

“The manager said, ‘Just be relaxed, we are doing well, the goal is going to come, stick to the plan and we will get the win’. It was frustrating to be behind because we were dominating the game, but the team stuck to the plan like the manager said. We showed our character in the second half and got the three points.”

Maresca must earn crowd’s patience

Enzo Maresca on the touchline at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Clearly Maresca’s philosophy is always to stick to plan A no matter how much the team struggles to create chances. That’s why he makes so few subs, and leaves them late – although in this game he broke his usual habit.

He’s called for the crowd to be patient in those moments, and to believe in the team’s ability to break through. If Chelsea consistently prove they can overcome low blocks like this with patient play, it will become a lot easier for the fans in the stadium to do just that.