Calum McFarlane, the club’s Under-21 coach, said the Chelsea squad have remained focused on Sunday\u2019s meeting with Manchester City in the immediate aftermath of Enzo Maresca\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
A popular figure among the players, Maresca drew support from a number of squad members on social media, but McFarlane said that once the group reported to training they were intent on preparation. “You don\u2019t know what to expect really, but the energy, enthusiasm and training was exceptional today,” McFarlane said ahead of the game. “They seem really focused. They\u2019re really driven and hungry. They know we\u2019ve got a massive game on Sunday and we\u2019re going to have to be at our best. You can feel that.<\/p>\n
“They\u2019re professionals. They\u2019ve done this a long time. They\u2019ve been here before. Reece [James] has been brilliant. He\u2019s been a real leader in the group and supported the staff and the players. You can\u2019t ask for any more. It just seems like a real focus for getting the best performance we can on Sunday.” <\/p>\n
McFarlane acknowledged players were likely to have questions about the club\u2019s future but said those conversations had been kept off the training pitch. “All my communication and relationships with the players have been around what training is going to look like today, what the next couple of days might look like, what Sunday might look like,” he continued. “So in terms of being a picture, I\u2019m probably not the person that they\u2019d be asking those questions.”<\/p>\n
The departure is thought to have been driven less by results and more by behind-the-scenes issues between Maresca and those in charge at Stamford Bridge. Supporters on social media have been vocal in support of Maresca and critical of co-owner Behdad Eghbali and co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.<\/p>\n
On the club\u2019s internal position McFarlane said: “I spoke to the directors and the owners and they\u2019ve been really supportive. They\u2019ve given us everything we need to be successful and nothing more we can ask for. They\u2019ve been fully on board and we\u2019re all in it together.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve had a lot of really good support in the last 24 hours or so and the plan is moving forward. So my six months at the club, I can only speak positively about the plans, the project and how well it\u2019s come across in the academy and the amount of opportunities the young lads are getting, which is, as a 21s coach, probably the most important thing for me. So I can only speak positively in all honesty.”<\/p>\n
He concluded with a message to the players: “It\u2019s always awkward when an interim comes in and it\u2019s more for them than it is for us.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s about them producing the level of performance that they\u2019ve done before against top sides. We\u2019ve had some top results this year and we know what this side is capable of. My message to them is bringing the best version of themselves and being all in it together and believing that we can get the next couple of days right and hopefully put in a good performance on Sunday.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
McFarlane says Chelsea players are focused on Manchester City despite Enzo Maresca\u2019s exit. On Sunday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[884,1087,1215],"class_list":["post-5644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","tag-chelsea-academy","tag-coaching-change","tag-controversy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}