Alejandro Garnacho believes this Chelsea team are still only getting started and will continue going from strength to strength as the season progresses, but has highlighted consistency and confidence as important areas to work on.
The winger was speaking in our pre-match press conference in Bergamo, ahead of tomorrow evening’s UEFA Champions League meeting with Atalanta.
Having joined Chelsea from Manchester United in the summer, Garnacho was asked how he has found his first few months with the Blues working under head coach Enzo Maresca, expressing his opinion that there is still plenty of room for this team to continue improving.
‘He explained to me everything and now working together, I think we are doing well,’ said the Argentinian. ‘We are going to improve with time, it’s just three months together, and he trusts me and that is the most important thing, to have confidence, and I’m going to improve.
‘The most important thing is confidence. He speaks with me every week and I think we are going to be better, me as a player and the team all together, with time. We started the season just three months ago so it’s building confidence between the manager and the players.
‘I am just trying to improve every season. I am going to get more mature during the years and the only way to do it is working every day.’
Another area Garnacho points to as important for us to continue building is consistency. He pointed to the recent high points of the 3-0 Champions League victory over Barcelona and the 1-1 draw earned against Premier League leaders Arsenal despite having Moises Caicedo sent off in the first half.
However, he also knows that high standard needs to be maintained, as we look to get back to winning ways following the weekend’s 0-0 draw at Bournemouth.
‘I think we showed people that we can compete for everything,’ he continued. 'We showed that a few weeks ago against Barcelona and against Arsenal with 10 men.
‘But the important thing is the consistency. For example, in some of the games where people expect us to win more, that is where we have lost or didn’t win. So I think we showed people we are a strong team and we can compete for this competition, but we have to be more consistent.
‘It’s going to take time, but I think we are going to improve during the season. We just started a few months ago and we want to improve like this.’