Enzo Maresca asked Chelsea fans not to note the goalkeeper from Unterfeuer, Robert Sanchez, if he started against West Ham on Monday.
Sanchez made mistakes in his last two appearances-on January 20 at the Stamford Bridge on Wolves’ Tor and Erling Haaland’s crucial second in the 3-1 defeat in Manchester City last Saturday.
And while Maresca admitted that he had not yet decided whether he would stay with Sanchez, or instead turning to the Filip Jorgensen, he said it was important that the fans, whoever got the nod, supported.
He said, “The only thing I can say is that we need the fans. We need them, the players need them. If you understand that for various reasons you sometimes cannot be satisfied with the players or the manager. But we certainly need your support because you have to trust our instructions.
“When I see something I don’t like, I am the first to not accept it. In terms of the way you (the players) try to be happy every day, you can try to hug all situations that we had this season. I am sure that we will end up there to fight something. “
Full of focus on Monday evening. 👊 pic.twitter.com/b4hbdwk8na
– Chelsea FC (@chelafc) January 30, 2025
Maresca can try to protect Sanchez
Maresca indicated that Sanchez would be for his own well -being if it were left out.
“Yes, sometimes that can happen,” he added. “Not only in Robert’s case. The other day I read about (Gianluigi) Donnarumma, this season he always played for Paris Saint-Germain, but Luis Enrique was out of the question for some games. Now he plays every game and is doing well.
“Sometimes it can be a solution, but it doesn’t mean that it is in Robert’s case.”
Potter’s return
On Monday, Graham Potter returns to Stamford Bridge for the first time since Chelsea was released in April 2023 after only seven months.
The 49-year-old took over at West Ham and Maresca at the beginning of this month was impressed by what he saw.
He said, “You are very aggressive. I saw the four or five games responsible with Graham. You can see that you are trying to be very aggressive, even in the last game against Aston Villa.
“As always, it will be a hard game. With regard to tacticals, we have two more days to prepare the game, so we will see. “
