Enzo Maresca reveals threat he made to Chelsea starter
- Filip Jorgensen received some strict instructions before facing Southampton
- The 22-year-old goalkeeper kept a clean sheet in a comfortable win
- Enzo Maresca warned that Jorgensen "should just follow the plan"
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca revealed that he threatened to substitute goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen if he played any long passes during his side's 4-0 thumping of Southampton on Tuesday night.
The Italian tactician has endured plenty of goalkeeping complications this season. Maresca spent the first six months of the campaign publicly backing Robert Sanchez despite his continued blunders between the posts. Eventually, a particularly error-strewn display against Manchester City in January proved to be one stumble too many.
Jorgensen was promoted to number one but has struggled himself. After letting Marco Asensio's central shot squirm under his body in the 89th-minute of a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa last weekend, the Danish shot-stopper sparked widespread angst among the Stamford Bridge crowd with his passing out from the back against Southampton this week.
Maresca was quick to defend his goalkeeper, insisting that he was simply following his explicit orders. "My message to Filip was, 'If you play long ball, I will change you'," the Chelsea boss revealed post-match. "So he was just doing what I said to him."
Despite his manager's demands, Jorgensen attempted eight passes longer than 30 yards and completed just half of them. When the 22-year-old did keep his ball circulation short, he boasted a 100% success rate from 28 attempts.
Southampton tried to prey upon any doubt lurking in the Stamford Bridge crowd. "I want to press, steal the ball high and play forward. I want us to try to be aggressive," Saints boss Ivan Juric warned pre-game. The visitors did their best to upset Jorgensen on the ball, but couldn't find a way past the goalkeeper during a convincing 4-0 loss.
Maresca recognised that the demands he puts on his gloved players can be tough. "It's difficult for Filip, it's difficult for Robert when he was playing, I think it's difficult for all the keepers," the head coach admitted before pointedly warning: "But they should just follow the plan."
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