Enzo Maresca will give Ruud van Nistelrooy a “big hug” ahead of Chelsea’s game at Manchester United on Sunday.
Van Nistelrooy will continue as interim head coach at United following confirmation earlier today that new boss Ruben Amorim will not take up the reins at Old Trafford until November 11.
The former Netherlands international’s second game in charge, following on from Wednesday’s 5-2 thrashing of Leicester City in the EFL Cup, is the weekend clash with Chelsea and his former team-mate Maresca.
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The pair played together for a season at Malaga and the Italian is looking forward to catching up with Van Nistelrooy at the weekend.
He said: “I didn’t speak with Ruud. I will give him a big hug on Sunday before the game. He’s a fantastic guy, humble, very professional.
“I shared with him time when he was already finished but even then you could see how good he was.”
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No issue with Fernandez
Chelsea head to Manchester having seen their momentum stall a little bit in recent weeks. They have won just two of their last five games in all competitions and were beaten 2-0 at Newcastle in the EFL Cup in midweek.
Argentine World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez started at St James’ Park but has been on the bench for Chelsea’s last two league games.
Maresca denied there was any hidden motivation behind his decision and stated it was simply due to the strength of the Blues’ squad.
“I show frustration with all of them, don’t look just at Enzo. I still trust Enzo, there is no reason in the world I can lose confidence in him,” he added. “The reason why he is not playing in the Premier League is because I take another decision but my confidence is 100 per cent with Enzo.
“I like to say that we don’t have an A or B team. There are players that are fantastic but we don’t have indispensable players. If Cole [Palmer] isn’t playing, we play Joao [Felix]. If Nico [Jackson] doesn’t play we play Christo [Nkunku]. There is not one we can’t change.
“The reason why we change players is because they are all good. You are looking for some different reasons for Enzo but he is going to play for sure in the future. It doesn’t mean Romeo [Lavia] and Moises [Caicedo] are always going to play. As soon as one of them drops [his level], for sure we are going to change.”
Maresca hoping to wear United down
Maresca is hoping his possession-heavy philosophy will reap rewards at Old Trafford.
He said: “We score many goals in the second half. It happened when I was at Leicester. In the first half we touch, touch, touch – [the opposition] run, run, run.
“They can’t maintain that for 90 minutes so the last half an hour they start to drop and this is the moment we create more chances and score goals.”
