In the 20th round of the English Premier League, Chelsea's visit to Crystal Palace resulted in a 1-1 draw. After the match, Chelsea's team leader Maresca gave a detailed explanation of the whole match in the Today's Focus program.
Maresca began by expressing his regret over the outcome of the match, "Unfortunately, I think we had every reason to win this game. We created countless chances, but the beauty of soccer is that even more chances may not translate into victory. We know that against an opponent like this, we have to take every chance we can get, otherwise the game will always remain in doubt. Unfortunately, we were equalized by our opponents after taking the lead."
He further dissected his team's performance in the match, "We were in control of the ball, but once we lost it, our opponents were quick to launch a counterattack and score a goal. If we could have extended the lead to 2-0 before the other team scored, the game could have been over a long time ago. We did have three or four great chances to seal the win, but at 1-0 up, our opponents gradually found their confidence and we failed to capitalize on our chances and paid the price for it."
Despite the disappointing result, Maresca recognized the performances of individual players: "Josh Achampong is crucial for us. We have a lot of trust in him and he just needs to find the right rhythm for his game. I'm sure he will become an integral part of the club as the game progresses."
Finally, Maresca looked ahead to the team's future journey, "After failing to win three or four games in a row, it's only natural for other teams to catch up. In the last four games, we drew two and lost two, and the gap to the top four has really narrowed. But the league journey is still long and we still have 18 games to play. We will continue to work hard to achieve even better results in the upcoming matches."
