Spurs may be the Premier League team with the most 2-0 leads surrendered in defeats in the history of the competition, but not many would’ve bet on Chelsea engineering a comeback after having conceded twice in ludicruous circumstances in the first ten minutes last night at the new Three Point Lane.
Now obviously this Chelsea team aren’t lacking for goals, and it’s rare that they don’t score. But a young team getting sucker-punched twice in an atmosphere of brewing violence is a solid recipe for a bad day out.
It certainly took a collective response – and more than one play, one player, and more than one moment to flip that script – and one that should resonate well in the weeks and months to come, much to the delight of head coach Enzo Maresca.
“To come to this stadium against this team and then concede two goals, and continue with the same plan shows how the players in this moment are mentally strong. […] Since we started, we are trying to work in the way we want to play on and off the ball. Also, the togetherness.
“To come to this stadium and think you are not going to suffer, it’s impossible. We were ready for that. It was probably too much to give away two goals in 15 minutes but it is the perfect win.”
Chelsea’s mentality has been the subject of much discussion, and much criticism, since this team rebuild began. But there’s been some real growth in that department, this season and towards the tail end of last season. Perhaps that was always going to be a natural process with maturity. But you can certainly help it along with proper guidance, and that credit should go to the coaching staff.-
Mental fortitude in the context of one game is great. Showing that sort of focus, determination, belief from game-to-game, week-to-week, month-to-month, and then eventually season-to-season, is what separated the good from the great.
Summing things up in the words of Maresca:
“Personally, I don’t consider this game as the biggest win. I’ve said many times, this team is going to win games against big teams and it is going to lose games against big teams because it is football. The only thing I focus on is how we can improve.”
“[…] After the game, my message to the players was to be focused day by day, in our session, the next game on Thursday and then Sunday. The main focus has to be to enjoy the day off and when we come back, 100%, train well, go for the game. The fans can dream [of the title race] because from the outside, it is quite clear and inside, the reality is we are not ready but the important thing is we improve day by day.”