Chelsea's pre-season tour kicked off with a 2-2 draw against League One side Wrexham in San Francisco. Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring for the Blues with a well-taken finish on 35 minutes.
However, in the second half, goals from Luke Bolton and Jack Marriott put the Welsh side in front before Lesley Ugochukwu levelled for Chelsea eight minutes from time as the match ended level.
Despite not winning his opening game in charge of the West Londoners, Maresca believed there was still plenty to be positive about.
Here is a rundown of what the Italian had to say following the match.
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Remaining positive
Although the result was not what Chelsea supporters had hoped for, the main objective was for the players to build up match fitness as well as focusing on the performance side.
Maresca said: "The result is always important but in this moment, the most important thing is to judge the performance, especially after two weeks since we started.
"I was very happy in the first half and also in the second half. It is a shame that we conceded the two goals but overall, when you think about players like Wes [Fofana] who played 45 minutes after a year out and different situations, [I am pleased].
"The result for us is always important but in this moment, we have to judge different things so I am very happy with the performance" the Italian concluded.
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Maresca's style of play and identity
During the game, the Blues boss implemented the same style of play used in last season's Championship title winning campaign at Leicester City, which proved to be effective.
Dominating in possession and using the right-back, in this case Reece James or Malo Gusto, as an additional midfielder when on the ball is a key focal point for Maresca.
When quizzed about his style of play, the boss responded: "Yes, in this moment we are trying to build with three [defenders] and two [in defensive midfield]. First half it was with Reece James inside and in the second half it was with Malo Gusto inside.
"It doesn’t matter what the level of the opposition is when they sit back with 11 players behind the ball, it is always difficult to find space and solutions. It is not easy.
"We tried in the first half and we tried in the second half and for sure we did many things where we can improve. But we only started two weeks ago so for me, tonight it was important to start to see the identity of the team and the identity is there."
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Defensive frailties
Having gone in at the break 1-0 ahead, defensive problems were shown in the second half when Wrexham scored twice to go in front. It was safe to say the goals could have been prevented.
With his tactics, Maresca also tends to play out from the back with both goals being conceded as a result of this set-up. The Italian highlighted this, saying:
"The first goal was not from playing out of the back. The second goal was, yes, but the first goal was one bouncing ball, we lost the duel and we conceded the first goal."
Maresca continued on the topic on conceding goals: "For sure we are going to concede goals during the season trying to build from the back. Hopefully we are not going to concede too many but it is one of the risks that you have trying to build from the back.
"Absolutely [it is important to keep being brave playing out from the back]. I think you are going to concede goals in different ways so you just need to decide in which way you will concede goals.
"Teams who build from behind, sometimes they concede but overall I think you are going to score more goals than the ones you concede."
In the Premier League last season, the Blues conceded a hefty 63 goals so keeping the ball out of the net is certainly something Maresca will need to work on for the upcoming season.
Chelsea will be back in action on Saturday night at the Notre Dame Stadium against Celtic, managed by another former Leicester City manager in Brendan Rodgers.
