On March 31, The Athletic published an interview with Cucurella. The interview was conducted last Friday before the Spanish team's match against Serbia. In the first half of the interview, he talked about the reasons for Chelsea's unstable performance this season.
Chelsea have only won 4 of their last 12 games, lost 6, and have lost four in a row
"Sometimes, if you are in good shape, the international match day may interrupt your momentum a bit, but this international match day is a good thing for the club level."
Among them, you lost to Paris Saint-Germain 2-8 on aggregate in the Champions League Round of 16
"We lacked experience. For many players, this was their first time participating in this level of competition, and we paid the price for it. Mistakes are inevitable, but we should have handled it better."
"There is still the second leg to play. If you can stay calm and return to London with a score of 2-3 (the score with 5 minutes left in the first leg), anything is possible."
"But then we made a mistake and tried to attack without a clear formation. As a result, Paris Saint-Germain seized the opportunity and proved that they have that kind of sharp attacking ability."
Currently, a pessimistic mood permeates within the club
"Such results are always unacceptable. You work hard every day in training and fight hard, but in the end you find that we are still a long way from the top level in really important games."
"I understand that this is part of the club's policy, and they also want to develop in this direction - signing young players and looking to the future. However, for those of us who are still here and eager to win major honors, such moments can make us feel frustrated."
"We have a cohord of excellent players, and the foundation has been laid, but to compete for important trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, we need more, and simply signing young players may make it more complicated to achieve these goals."
"In the game against Paris Saint-Germain, we lacked players who had experienced similar situations. You also need time. I know young players will gain experience in the future, but you need to find a balance between the two."
In addition, the team has also undergone a series of changes this season: Maresca was sacked less than six months after leading the team to the Club World Cup title in July, and Rosenior took over his position in January
"Rosenior is a very good person. He is very good at managing the team and players of all personalities. He likes to keep in close contact with us. His football philosophy is also very good, but we don't have time to practice it."
"We train by participating in games, because we have a game every 3 days, which means we don't have time to train on the training ground at all. In this case, your plans sometimes fall through, and then we will experience some difficult times, which is normal."
"During Maresca's coaching period, we were more stable because we worked together for 18 months. If you look at our first preseason with him (Chelsea only won 1 of 6 warm-up matches and lost 3), you will find that there were indeed some doubts at the time."
"You need a process to make every player understand what we need to do. In the last few months of working with Maresca, we almost played by feeling. If we change the formation, we also know what to do. You need time."
"Look at Arsenal now, they are fighting for every trophy. They have worked with Arteta for almost seven years, but they have not won many championships. However, trust in the team will eventually pay off."
"We know what Maresca wants us to do. Winning a championship like the Club World Cup is also very helpful. It can strengthen the connection between each other, and it can also build good relationships during celebrations."
"When a coach gives you this kind of trust and provides you with a platform to compete for championships, you will give everything for him. The moment Maresca left had a great impact on us."
"These are all decisions made by the club. If you ask for my opinion, I would not make such a decision. The best way to make such a change is to wait until the end of the season. This will give everyone, including the players and the new coach, time to prepare and conduct a complete preseason training..."
"In short, the club's instability stems from this. We first had an interim head coach (U21 coach Callum McFarlane), and then a new head coach came with new ideas, but there was no time to put them into practice. That's how things are."