Enzo Maresca Thread

[Ledg 639]

https://streamable.com/d5ak6b

His little dance after full-time. 🥺🥺🥺

[Strike 7,222]

The board got this appointment right 

[MoroccanBlue 5,312]

Crazy how we could lose 5 league matches on the bounce and we'd still be in a better position compared to this time last season. 

[Fernando 6,468]

21 hours ago, Strike said:

The board got this appointment right 

Yes but I still will not trust 100 percent with buys. 

Not every manager should get a say 100 percent on transfer. 

I Loved Conte and Tuchel, but some of their buys where disastrous. 

Obviously his input should be considered but there's a few select of managers in history that had this say in the past but in todays modern world I don't think that no longer works.  

[Strike 7,222]

23 hours ago, Fernando said:

Yes but I still will not trust 100 percent with buys. 

Not every manager should get a say 100 percent on transfer. 

I Loved Conte and Tuchel, but some of their buys where disastrous. 

Obviously his input should be considered but there's a few select of managers in history that had this say in the past but in todays modern world I don't think that no longer works.  

I agree. I dont think Maresca has that much say on transfers. Seems to be just working with whoever is bought

[NikkiCFC 7,966]

Remember people were hoping we would close the gap to City and Arsenal this season. Well, 1/3 of the season in, gap doesn't exist anymore. 

[Vesper 28,883]

Chelsea were questioned for Enzo Maresca appointment – six months on, those doubts have vanished

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5963037/2024/12/03/Chelsea-enzo-maresca-column/

Let’s start by turning back the clock.

Today — December 3 — marks the six-month anniversary of Chelsea officially announcing they had appointed Enzo Maresca as their new head coach. The choice inevitably sparked a lot of comments from the club’s fans on social media. Safe to say not a lot of it was upbeat.

Here is just a small indication of some of the things said about him:

• “Another moronic appointment by Chelsea and Todd Boehly. I can’t see Enzo Maresca even lasting the season.”
• “Out of his depth, no experience.”
• “Can’t wait to see Maresca sacked after one season because he’s been found out.”
• “This random will be sacked seven months in.”
• “To go from Tuchel to Maresca in four appointments is quite something. They have taken a massive risk. If this doesn’t work out it could turn toxic for them.”
• “Maresca signing a five-year deal when he will be gone in five months.”

Even some of the Stamford Bridge club’s former players weighed in with downbeat opinions of a man whose only previous experience as a manager had been one season at Leicester in the second-tier Championship a year ago — albeit winning promotion as champions — and a mere 14 games at Parma in that division’s Italian equivalent before being sacked in November 2021.

Speaking on The Obi One podcast, ex-Chelsea midfielder Mikel John Obi expressed his concerns: “I’m sure the Chelsea fans, they’ve been patient, but if we don’t start the season well, that is going to be a catastrophe. It will be a bad, bad decision from the owners and they will have to… I don’t know what they have to do because the fans will turn on them, and they will turn on them massively.”

Former Chelsea defender Robert Huth also suggested Maresca was a questionable appointment to follow Mauricio Pochettino, who got ditched after one season, and that it was an odd decision.

 

Chelsea and Maresca had a tough pre-season (Jason Mowry/Getty Images)

A bad pre-season, where they won just one of six warm-up games while conceding 13 goals, just made the noise even louder, especially against a backdrop of players being frozen out into a ‘bomb squad’ away from the first team.

Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher was scathing in his criticism after Chelsea lost Maresca’s opening Premier League game to Manchester City. Speaking on Sky’s Monday Night Football show, he said: “Chelsea have just got to stop buying players, and players have got to stop signing for Chelsea. If I was a player (today), I don’t know why you would sign for Chelsea. There isn’t anything there. It’s not a young and exciting team.”

Fast forward from that to Sunday afternoon and the sight of Maresca leading his players on a lap of honour following a 3-0 home win against Aston Villa. The mood in the stands was buoyant, the crowd full of belief and appreciation.

In a short period, Maresca has built more of a bond with the fanbase than recent predecessors Graham Potter and Pochettino achieved. The fact he has made a deliberate attempt from day one to forge this, by going out of his way to acknowledge them, helps.

Getting good results is handy, too.

Chelsea are third in the Premier League table with an identical record to an Arsenal side strongly tipped to win the title before the campaign began — behind them only alphabetically. Yes, Liverpool are nine points clear in first but there was no obvious gap in quality when the sides met at Anfield in October, and Maresca’s side were perhaps a little unfortunate to lose 2-1 that day. Remarkably, defending four-times-in-a-row champions City are two points and two positions below them after losing four league games in a row.

It is still early days in Maresca’s tenure but he deserves a lot of credit for the job he has done so far and he’s certainly silenced the doubters. The fact people are even asking whether Chelsea are in the title race shows just how far ahead of schedule they are.

The 44-year-old Italian is the third permanent appointment the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium has made since buying the club in May 2022. Just going on Premier League form alone, he is off to a better start than Potter and Pochettino, although one should bear in mind the former did not have a pre-season to bed in due to replacing Thomas Tuchel in the September of the new regime’s first season.

Just look at the table below, which focuses on each manager’s opening 13 league games. Maresca is outperforming the other two on almost every metric.

First 13 Premier League games in charge

Managers	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals for	Goals against	Points	Position
Maresca	7	4	2	26	14	25	3rd
Pochettino	4	4	5	22	20	16	10th
Potter	5	3	5	14	12	18	10th

Now, you could argue Maresca has benefitted from work that was done before his arrival, with key players such as Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson having had a year to settle after their transfers to Chelsea. He also joined the club when the management structure above the head coach role was in place. Potter, by contrast, was lured from Brighton just over three months after the club were sold.

But it would be wrong to say Maresca has had it easy. There was a loud outcry in the summer over the size of the squad, plus his subsequent treatment of unwanted first-team players, telling them to train away from the main group. It may have been harsh but you have to say the team’s results on the pitch are proving him right.

The beginning of pre-season was also overshadowed by the emergence of a video in which Enzo Fernandez is singing a racist and discriminatory song with Argentina team-mates following their Copa America final win over Colombia in July. It threatened to split the dressing room and Maresca’s man-management skills were put to the test straight away. Fernandez has been eased back in, and was wearing the captain’s armband as he scored against Villa on Sunday.

 

Chelsea celebrate their latest Premier League win on Sunday (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Just a month into the season, Maresca had to handle big headlines about the co-owners trying to go their separate ways and attempts to buy each other out. He did not let the uncertainty in the boardroom, which is still unresolved, affect the players either. Also, like the two men who had the job before him, Maresca is having to get used to not being able to call upon one of Chelsea’s best and most important players — Reece James — due to repeated injuries.

Not everything has been perfect.

Chelsea have not won any of their league matches this season against ‘big opposition’ in City (lost), Liverpool (lost), Arsenal (drew) and Manchester United (drew) — questions will definitely be asked if Maresca does not get off the mark in that regard away to fierce London rivals Tottenham on Sunday. A meek 2-0 exit at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup’s round of 16 was a disappointment too, while a record of three clean sheets from the 13 league games (Liverpool have a league-best seven) shows there is plenty of room for improvement defensively.

But the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Maresca has brought back the feel-good factor to Chelsea, and you do not hear many questioning his appointment now.

[Strike 7,222]

7 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Remember people were hoping we would close the gap to City and Arsenal this season. Well, 1/3 of the season in, gap doesn't exist anymore. 

Some of it to do with them dropping off

Still have the gap to Pool

[King Kante 1,488]

3 hours ago, Strike said:

Some of it to do with them dropping off

Still have the gap to Pool

Tbh, we are still a GK and RCB away from a league title. Personally, I suspect the Dippers to grind their way to a title and Arsenal to keep ahead. 3rd-4th feels about right for the profile of the squad currently. 

[Vesper 28,883]

3 hours ago, King Kante said:

Tbh, we are still a GK and RCB away from a league title. Personally, I suspect the Dippers to grind their way to a title and Arsenal to keep ahead. 3rd-4th feels about right for the profile of the squad currently. 

3rd or 4th with a squad with huge issues at GKer and CB would be astounding work by Maresca. 2nd would be out of this world.

Pool are (atm, especially with Real and Citeh's massive injury issues) the best team on the planet, IMHO, and they may strengthen in January. The only one who is close (I do not put Bayern or PSG or Inter up there at that level) are Barca, and they are a bit in the mud atm (but I am sure will turn it around). Pool (like us) need help at CB, although not to our level of need, and they are just loaded now at GKer, starting next season with Mamardashvili coming in, grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Pool's big issue is next season, when they may lose VVD, Salah, and TAA, all on frees. They will likely sell Alisson or Caoimhín Kelleher, due to Mamar coming in. They also need to address CF,  as Darwin just is not good enough, and Dogo Jota is not a lead the line type (plus he is often injured)