Enzo Maresca reaction: Chelsea boss on wild draw with Bournemouth ‘We deserved a lot more’

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca shared his reaction to their wild 2-2 draw against Bournemouth on Tuesday.

The Blues were 1-0 up in the first half thanks to Cole Palmer and they were absolutely on a roll and should have been ahead by three or four.

Then Moises Caicedo gave away a penalty which Justin Kluivert scored and Antoine Semenyo scored for Bournemouth to make it 2-1.

In the 95th minute, Reece James scored a wonderful free kick to make it 2-2 and save Chelsea from a shock defeat.

Below is a look at what Enzo Maresca had to say about more points dropped for Chelsea.

Enzo Maresca reaction; Reece James reflects on the late equaliser

When asked by TNT Sports in the UK if the draw was a fair result, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca did not think it was and said his side should have won the game.

“I don’t think so. I think we deserved a lot more. Especially the first half. It’s a game that we could finish 2-0 or 3-0 in the first half with the amount of shots, chances, but that is football,” Maresca said. “The negative thing is that after we conceded the goal, we completely changed the way we played in terms of falling a little bit. This is something we need to improve. All in all, we absolutely deserved to win the game and unfortunately we didn’t.”

Asked about Chelsea’s lack of clinical finishing costing them, Maresca admitted it continues to cost them and is something they need to improve.

“The most important thing is to create chances. But we must also be clinical. It already happened in the last four, five games. It has happened many times,” said Maresca. “Palace was the last away game, we were 1-0 up and created a lot of chances, we didn’t score and then we closed in the end. Tonight, more or less the same thing happened. The only thing is in the previous game we never changed, we never fell after conceding. Tonight we went down after giving away a penalty. It changed a little bit, we dropped a little bit. It is something we need to improve.”

Maresca also thought Bournemouth were lucky to finish the game with 11 players on the pitch after VAR asked referee Robert Jones to look at David Brooks pulling back Marc Cucurella but only a yellow card was given.

“I think so too,” said Maresca. “Already this season it didn’t happen just once, already many times with some penalties, but hopefully we can be more lucky in the future.”

Asked if we had seen the best and worst of Chelsea in this game, Maresca pretty much agreed.

“The first half was great. The first half was unbelievable. The second half we weren’t good,” Maresca said.

Reece James scored his first Chelsea goal in over two years to grab a point late on as the Chelsea captain reflected on that moment and his return from injury.

“I knew the free kick was range, I felt that side of the goal was open, I tried to finish it as well as I could,” James told TNT Sports. “There was a period when I scored quite often and I haven’t had that feeling for quite a long time through injuries and setbacks. I’m happy to be back with the team and get on the scoresheet again and help the team get a point.”

Did he feel a draw was a fair result?

“I don’t. I think we had a couple of clear chances that we should have taken in the first half and maybe put the game to bed, but if you don’t take chances sometimes it can come back and bite you the ass,” said James. “I think it’s across football, globally, if you have chances in a game and you don’t take them, it can come back and hurt you.”

Can Chelsea build some momentum from getting a late point?

“There are positives to take from the game, to go behind and take a point, but there are also negatives in not taking the chances we should. Mixed feelings,” added James.

He was also asked about former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel taking over as England manager and whether the late equalizer was a reminder for him.

“I worked under him, he knows my skills. I just need to get back into the game,” James said.