Chelsea's director Performance Bryce Cavanagh is no stranger to short training camps. Before he was poached by the West -London club in July 2023, he spent seven years at the FA, together with the English team.
But even for the Australian, a 13-day pre-season with 28 players who return after a three weeks after the club's World Cup was a challenge like no other.
The consensus? Bin the beep test. Scrape the shuttle sprints. Apart from the fitness work that was not necessary. There was no time that Reece James et al was already made as a Forrest Gump in thoughtlessly from one end of the field to another and back.
Save that for a 40-day preseason. Instead, the team was told by Maresca on Monday 4 August that they would treat this as a normal week in a normal season '. First prepare for their friendly competitions. Then their first opponents in the Premier League, Crystal Palace.
The players were pleasantly surprised. Reduced running? Yes please, Gaffer. The performance department of Chelsea believed that three weeks was barely long enough for the physical levels of Cole Palmer and Co in order to have fallen so drastically that catching the palace would be considered meaningless.
After the usual weightings, the Chelsea team went to work indoors, in their gym where you will find white silhouettes of trophies that smother a blue surround and a neon board that reminds them that they are 'the pride of london'.
There was music such as Home by Knucks-Ander British rappers are available to shooting the background when Liam Delap performed jumping squats with a barbell on his shoulders and Moises Caicedo jumped over a mini-hurks before balancing on one foot.
Estevao Willian, 18, the Brazilian wonder kid, was taken under the wing of the Portuguese speakers, not in the least Pedro Neto. The keepers, Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen, had timed their reactions as they threw themselves forward when one of the buttons flashed for them, like a game of Whac-a-Mole.
All this was checked by an army of performance coaches, where the data of the players in real time on devices were followed. “I love that, Rob.” “Yes, moi.” “Go, Liam.”
The gym session about, the group went out, where Maresca focused on technical things. One of his warm-ups looked like a tag game when the players hunted themselves in two teams and the chasing-in a coned square.
Passion patterns were repeated, exercise exercises involving mannequins, sequences attacks where Joao Pedro would deteriorate before he scored further beyond Gaga Slonina, the third choice of Chelsea.
The ACL injury of Levi Colwill was crushing. His absence will be felt during the upcoming campaign-Maresca will insist on a good replacement and the performance department has checked how Colwill's teammates responded for the rest of their truncated in the previous season.
Asked for his assessment, Maresca said: “Where are we from one to 10? We are fine. We are good. '
It is useful that their first four Premier League luminaires all travel in London, more time at Cobham, while in October they will not get a top-six side to a trip to Liverpool.