by Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca praised his side’s “serious and professional” display after beating League Two side Morecambe in the FA Cup third round.
The 5-0 victory at Stamford Bridge came after the visitors held off the Premier League side until shortly before half-time, with defender Tosin Adarabioyo finally taking the initiative as Chelsea struggled to coming up with ideas, scoring the first of two goals from outside the box.
The floodgates opened after the break when Christopher Nkunku doubled the lead and Joao Felix scored twice, casting a cold light on the 87 league places that separated the teams.
“It was good, we won and that’s important,” Maresca said. “The performances in this kind of match show how serious and professional we are, once again the players showed it.”
The match will be best remembered for Tosin’s long-range zingers, the 27-year-old tripling his own goal return to help his side out of a difficult situation as Morecambe’s low block frustrated Chelsea and the home fans were becoming visibly agitated.
“It’s kind of the image of the game,” Maresca said. “He was the only one with more space a lot of the time because everyone else was man-to-man inside the box, there was no space. He was the only one who could carry the ball and try this option.
“He can do it, but it’s hard for central defenders to see them attack on the edge of the box.”
There was further good news for Maresca with Reece James and Romeo Lavia surviving unscathed in their first starts since returning from injury.
Both were withdrawn at half-time at the start of what the head coach said would be a managed reintroduction to the first team.
The decision to take them out of Maresca was “just to protect them”. The idea was to play 45 minutes. Hopefully we can go from there, build up some fitness and allow them to be with us for the rest of the season.
“The idea is slow in creating the right conditions, especially for Reece, you have to be a little more careful. The good news is that they both played 45 minutes without problems. I hope now we can start to help them create the right conditions.
Morecambe boss Derek Adams, whose attention now turns to the battle to keep his relegation-threatened side in the EFL, has reflected on the resource chasm his players were facing.
“I think we started really well,” he said. “We were in the penalty area several times in the first half. We probably could have done better finding the final pass. We let Chelsea into the match.
“They made three substitutes at half-time which helped, they have quality.
“Our payroll is a little over a million and they spent a billion. The chasm is huge, it’s only going to get wider, but I think we’ve done well. We appreciated the opportunity.
