Chelsea's Son Heung-min protects Sterling, who is shaken by his poor performance in the pre-season
Aug 11, 2024
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Chelsea, who appointed Enzo Maresca as the new head coach after the end of last season, showed an unstable history even before the opening of the season. In the pre-season tour held in the United States, he showed lack of organizational power and recorded extreme sluggishness, raising concerns about the 2024-2025 season. Naturally, criticism of Maresca's leadership is also growing.
However, veteran winger Raheem Sterling (30), well-known as Chelsea's Son Heung-min, has set out to settle this atmosphere. He publicly expressed his support for Maresca. It can be seen as an action to protect the team's leadership while empowering the faltering coach. As well as his skills, his personality is excellent enough to remind him of Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min, who is compared to him.
British soccer media '90MIN' reported on the 10th (Korea time) that Sterling defended Maresca, who was struggling even before the opening of the season, predicting that he would be better in the new season. Coach Maresca is in crisis to the point where Sterling has to speak up. The voice of criticism is unusual.
This is because he showed poor performance on the U.S. preseason tour to check his power ahead of the 2024-2025 season. Chelsea played five games on the U.S. preseason tour, only winning one. Celtic, Manchester City and Real Madrid lost in warm-up matches.
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This is the opposite of what Chelsea Boardzin expected from new coach Maresca. Unlike Pochettino, who is characterized by strong pressure and rapid transition to offense and defense, Chelsea appointed Maresca, who plays a stable performance centered on thorough ball possession. I expected a stable performance rather than an adventure. However, Chelsea's track record on the pre-season tour was completely different from these expectations. In a word, it was not properly maintained.
As the voice of criticism against coach Maresca grew due to this appearance, 'Chelsea's Son Heung-min' came forward and strengthened the coach. Sterling told BBC Sport "I think Chelsea is heading in the right direction``````````````.
He said "Maresca can get the best out of me and the team. After coming to the team, he is playing the way he wants"Of course, some of the results (of the pre-season tour) are not satisfactory. But it's heading in the right direction. Fans will soon be able to see several patterns return to normal. These are all learning processes, and team members are also quickly grasping it."
Sterling then finished the interview with "I think we'll have a good performance in the future because the Premier League is about to begin." Attention is focusing on whether coach Maresca's system will be normalized after the opening of the season, as "Chelsea Son Heung-min" Sterling said.
wman@sportschosun.com
