09/11/2025

theSun on Sunday NOV 9, 2025

SPORTS 14

‘Reds must keep fighting’

and facing City at the weekend. We know how good they are now. The season is long. If we were seven points clear at this stage, nobody would be saying that we had won the league already.” “Last season, when we were leading the way, we just stayed calm and kept on going because anything can happen. We just need to focus on ourselves, win our games and then let’s see what other teams are doing.” –Reuters

hard-fought 1-0 Champions League victory over Real Madrid on Tuesday that they had previ ously been missing. “Everybody could see against Real, all of us running, fighting, being there for each other, cover ing each other’s backs,” he told the British media on Friday. “The most important thing is to keep going like this.” “There is a long way to go. Now it’s all about the Premier League

out of the dol drums after

beating Aston Villa and Real Madrid, keep ing clean sheets in both games. Szoboszlai, of Hungary,

teams are well behind leaders Arsenal (25 points). The Merseyside

LIVERPOOL need to maintain their fighting spirit if they hope to get their Premier League title defence back on track, midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai (pic) said ahead of a trip to Manchester City on Monday. They are third in the standings with 18 points from 10 matches, a point behind City in second; both

club endured a torrid spell in October during which they lost six of seven games in all compe titions, but they appear to be

said Liverpool had shown a tenacity in their

Maresca stands firm Blues manager defends Chelsea rotation policy after Rooney criticism CHELSEA MANAGER Enzo

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Rooney’s remarks. “Since I joined the club, it’s my view to rotate players. No one complains when you win. When you don’t win I can understand no one is agreeing. “I loved rotation as a player. Football is a bit different com pared to years ago in terms of physicality and intensity. It’s impossible to play with the same players 65 games in one season. “You cannot say: ‘Why, years ago, was it possible?’ Because it was different. It was not so physi cal. I played for 20 years. Now it’s changed. You need to rotate. “If you want to see the season like a marathon – when you are in February and March, the last sprint, you have to think in a dif ferent way. But it’s a long race.” There was particular criticism directed at Maresca in Baku over his decisions in defence, with 19 year-old Jorrel Hato at fault for both goals conceded. “When the rotation is Andrey Santos, a Brazil international, and Jorrel Hato, Holland international, and Estevao, Brazil international, then it’s not about rotation,” he said. “They are talented, they are young. When they are young you have to give them chance to make mistakes. But when you don’t win games, the problem is rotation.” – AFP

Maresca has defended his policy of making regular wholesale changes to his Chelsea team after criticism from Wayne Rooney that his approach is disruptive. The Blues made seven changes for Thursday’s disappointing 2-2 draw against Qarabag in Baku in the Champions League – the fifth game in a row in which the Italian had made at least that number of changes. In all this season, Chelsea have made 85 alterations to their start ing line-ups in all competitions, far more than any other Premier League side. The next closest are Liverpool, with 69. Rooney used his BBC Sport show to question whether players can build relationships when they rarely know who they will line up alongside. But Maresca stood by his deci sions ahead of Chelsea’s meeting with managerless Wolves on Saturday, pointing out that foot ball has changed from the days when the former England and Manchester United forward played. “We are in an era where anyone can say what they want,” he said on Friday, referring to

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Wayne Rooney (left) and Enzo Maresca. – REUTERSPIC