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ENZO MARESCA continues to remind Chelsea fans that they are trying lots of different things on this pre-season tour.

Defending doesn’t seem to be one of them.

The new Blues boss knows this is a work in progress, but his players will have to learn a lot on the job – and quickly.

Real Madrid took them down several times at half-time in a chaotic first half in Charlotte as Chelsea’s pre-season tour came to an end.

Five games, five cities and many questions.

They were also dismantled by Celtic and Manchester City in the United States.

Maresca said: “Any team wants to do something, they want to win games and compete.

“They have to work the right way defensively. It’s difficult when you concede a goal or two, always starting behind.

“Today, again, in the first five minutes, we had two clear chances. When you concede a goal and are losing 1-0, 2-0, it gets difficult.

“But overall, in terms of the things we’re doing, we’re improving and I’m very happy.”

There were positives, of course. Romeo Lavia looks fantastic, Noni Madueke has been confident and effective, while several players who spent last season injured have plenty of minutes left in the tank.

Chelsea’s owners know this will take time as they are completely overhauling the style of play at Stamford Bridge. But based on this evidence, the first few weeks of the season could be difficult to watch.

Players still look confused and unsure of their roles in defense, while chances hardly flowed against the Champions League winners – who were without many of their big names.

Vinicius Jr was there, however, and tormented Chelsea’s defenders – especially in the first half.

Maresca has already complained about the way his players defend with the high line and they did the same again in North Carolina.

Dani Ceballos scored the first, hitting the far post after a break that was confusingly defended by Chelsea.

Vinicius opened the scoring again for the Blues with a beautiful ball from behind and set up the second. His pass was met by Brahim Diaz, who rounded new goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen and finished from an impressively tight angle.

Chelsea improved a lot defensively after the break, although there was a slight feeling that Real Madrid were easing their way to the end of the tour.

Lessons are slowly being learned by Maresca’s new men – their second-half improvement is a case in point – but defense, especially, is something ingrained that the new coach is desperate to eliminate.

The fact that his team did not go down by four, as happened against Celtic and Manchester City, will have pleased Maresca, although that is a rather slim choice considering the opening game against the champions, less than two weeks away.