Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has defended his players after they incredibly failed to take a shot in the first half against Copenhagen on Thursday night.
The Blues went into the second leg of their Conference League last-16 tie with their Danish opponents holding a 2-1 advantage from the first fixture.
Despite making six changes, the Premier League outfit were expected to impress at Stamford Bridge, and progress to the quarter-finals was ultimately achieved through Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall‘s goal during the early stages of the second half to earn a 1-0 victory.
However, in a lacklustre opening 45 minutes, Chelsea did not take a single shot on goal, much to the frustration of their supporters who also witnessed Copenhagen have their moments at the other end.
Maresca has often dismissed criticism for poor results due to the amount of opportunities that have been created in the final third, yet the Italian took a similar firm stance for the opposite reason on this occasion.
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Part of the plan?
As quoted by the club’s official website, Maresca claimed that it was part of the plan to try to nullify Copenhagen in the first half before making attack-minded substitutions.
The Italian said: “The first and second legs were quite similar. The first leg in Denmark we struggled, second half we were much better. The reason why is because we planned both games that way.
“The first game there, we tried to analyse the first half and then push a little bit in the second half in case we needed it. Because we won there, we prepared the game exactly the same way tonight. First half we analysed and saw what we needed to improve.
“‘We changed the structure. We changed Josh Acheampong not because he was not doing well – he was doing very good the first time he was doing a different job – but because we needed to change the structure. You need patience.
“We were attacking with five players and we needed to attack with six. The second half was much better and we deserved it over two legs.”
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What next for Chelsea?
Progressing past Copenhagen has earned Chelsea a quarter-final tie against Legia Warsaw, the first leg taking place in Poland on April 10.
In the short term, Chelsea turn their attention to Sunday afternoon when they square off against London rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
There are currently six points separating the two teams in the Premier League table, Arsenal starting the weekend in second position and Chelsea in fourth.
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