Enzo Maresca Thread

[milka 3,405]

no one top team rotate their  two CB during the game unless some injury like Maresca do in every game different partnership in defence and that shit inverted Gusto in midfielder not working 

[Fernando 6,656]

4 hours ago, milka said:

no one top team rotate their  two CB during the game unless some injury like Maresca do in every game different partnership in defence and that shit inverted Gusto in midfielder not working 

Because our CB are crap. 

IF they where good they would be like Caicedo, untouchable. 

This is not Enzo fault but the board fault. 

Edited November 3 by Fernando

[OneMoSalah 8,947]

3 hours ago, Fernando said:

Because our CB are crap. 

IF they where good they would be like Caicedo, untouchable. 

This is not Enzo fault but the board fault. 

He could send a message though and stop playing/subbing on that fucking clown Tosin. He has got rid of plenty of players he didn’t like/think were good enough to be here already, just play Josh instead of Tosin every week with Trev. 

Edited November 3 by OneMoSalah

[Reddish-Blue 2,591]

32 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

He could send a message though and stop playing/subbing on that fucking clown Tosin. He has got rid of plenty of players he didn’t like/think were good enough to be here already, just play Josh instead of Tosin every week with Trev. 

You know that won't happen, Tosin is an ex-city boy just like Maresca and his best mate is Palmer 😆

[OneMoSalah 8,947]

1 hour ago, Reddish-Blue said:

You know that won't happen, Tosin is an ex-city boy just like Maresca and his best mate is Palmer 😆

Hopefully it does happen. He was signed on a free (would imagine sign on fee wouldn’t have been colossal either) though so if we sell him he will generate good profit 😂 isn’t that the club’s model? 

[NikkiCFC 8,458]

On 03/11/2025 at 13:10, milka said:

no one top team rotate their  two CB during the game unless some injury like Maresca do in every game different partnership in defence 

Interestingly he doesn't change CBs when they are shit like yesterday or Wolves. Only when they are solid like Spurs or Sunderland 😆

[The Rising Sun 721]

Maresca just doesn't take games seriously. 

There's no better way to put it.

Yes he's analytical etc etc like any other coach but the way he approaches games makes it look like he's just chilling, managing, coaching the kids.

No seriousness and valuing points....

Conte was a beast in that sense.

[Fernando 6,656]

1 hour ago, The Rising Sun said:

Maresca just doesn't take games seriously. 

There's no better way to put it.

Yes he's analytical etc etc like any other coach but the way he approaches games makes it look like he's just chilling, managing, coaching the kids.

No seriousness and valuing points....

Conte was a beast in that sense.

Conte was always bad in Europe. 

League yes amazing but let's not forget under him we got the most crap players of all time. 

[TheHulk 2,578]

21 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Conte was always bad in Europe. 

League yes amazing but let's not forget under him we got the most crap players of all time. 

Pretty sure he was screwed by Marina while here, he wanted VVD and Lukaku, and after when we got Lukaku we didn't have Conte anymore who could get the most out of the lamp.

Edited November 6 by TheHulk

[Fernando 6,656]

On 06/11/2025 at 09:39, TheHulk said:

Pretty sure he was screwed by Marina while here, he wanted VVD and Lukaku, and after when we got Lukaku we didn't have Conte anymore who could get the most out of the lamp.

We got zappacosta, Bakayoko, drinkwater. 

Some of the worst buys under him. 

I always said that he is good short term, will win us the title but not good long term in building a team. 

I still rather stick with Maresca and the board for they are doing a good job in the mid all the way up. 

They are just lacking in defensive side. Sigh if they will only sign a director that is good for that.... 

Edited November 9 by Fernando

[milka 3,405]

Maresca coach these players  to increase their price and clownlake to flip them for profit like Madueke , Veiga , Petrovic . These so many rotation will not lead to the title . 

[calculatingInfinity 1,486]

Still a steady improvement to the team, month after month. There will be bumps on the road, but I am still very happy to see him at Chelsea.

Would love to see a proper world class center forward for him, and some better defenders of course, but that seems to just not be something the board is interested in ever buying again for Chelsea.

 

[NikkiCFC 8,458]

Funny thing is that he destroyed both Enrique and Flick. Two managers many of our fans cried for while making fun of 'Championship manager'.

[Strike 7,611]

4 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Funny thing is that he destroyed both Enrique and Flick. Two managers many of our fans cried for while making fun of 'Championship manager'.

Tough times for the Maresca out crowd. 

 

[OneMoSalah 8,947]

3 hours ago, Strike said:

Tough times for the Maresca out crowd. 

 

The thing is though, he & the team will go and get us results in games against a PSG or a Barcelona (maybe even Arsenal) when we are the underdogs/mix it up or tweak our approach to expose something but then when it comes to playing lesser teams - we seem to struggle in terms of our performance, the tactical & mental sides particularly.

Thats not changed this season.

And thats where the majority of the frustration is because he is willing to be more flexible against a PSG, Barcelona etc but then he is absolutely insufferable & stubborn vs lesser sides & we get nowhere convincingly. 

Wait & see we will play well v Arsenal to follow up with this result then probably struggle v Leeds, Bournemouth, Atalanta & Everton….

Edited November 26 by OneMoSalah

[Fernando 6,656]

48 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

The thing is though, he & the team will go and get us results in games against a PSG or a Barcelona (maybe even Arsenal) when we are the underdogs/mix it up or tweak our approach to expose something but then when it comes to playing lesser teams - we seem to struggle in terms of our performance, the tactical & mental sides particularly.

Thats not changed this season.

And thats where the majority of the frustration is because he is willing to be more flexible against a PSG, Barcelona etc but then he is absolutely insufferable & stubborn vs lesser sides & we get nowhere convincingly. 

Wait & see we will play well v Arsenal to follow up with this result then probably struggle v Leeds, Bournemouth, Atalanta & Everton….

Because we are a team in progress that is still but finish. 

This is how I feel arsenal are with arteta. And how many seasons it took to get to here? 

I feel like arsenal are the real deal now, they have built a very good team in every department. 

And the thing there was progress season by season which is what matters most when building a team. 

[Strike 7,611]

4 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

The thing is though, he & the team will go and get us results in games against a PSG or a Barcelona (maybe even Arsenal) when we are the underdogs/mix it up or tweak our approach to expose something but then when it comes to playing lesser teams - we seem to struggle in terms of our performance, the tactical & mental sides particularly.

Thats not changed this season.

And thats where the majority of the frustration is because he is willing to be more flexible against a PSG, Barcelona etc but then he is absolutely insufferable & stubborn vs lesser sides & we get nowhere convincingly. 

Wait & see we will play well v Arsenal to follow up with this result then probably struggle v Leeds, Bournemouth, Atalanta & Everton….

No doubt, he's made his share of mistakes - the game against United is the last one where he got things terribly wrong.

But he seems to be getting a tune out of this squad despite dealing with a ton of injury problems. The decisions that went wrong are more on the board level than on the manager.

He's been making a lot of changes but it could well be a directive from the medical team since players didn't get pre-season. Let's wait and see how Arsenal goes. Unlike Barca who were playing their high line, Arsenal will have a mature and solid defense.

[calculatingInfinity 1,486]

45 minutes ago, Strike said:

But he seems to be getting a tune out of this squad despite dealing with a ton of injury problems. The decisions that went wrong are more on the board level than on the manager.

Well put. 

But I am sure the Maresca crowd will be back as soon as a few not great results comes, despite the clear improvements. I understand the frustrations in the moment like against United or Sunderland, being irrational and angry is a part of being a football fan at times.....  But gotta also look at the big picture, and luckily it seems like Todd and Egbhali are too for once.

[Strike 7,611]

 

  Maresca seems like an obsessed football nerd and I can't fault him for the work he's done with the squad he's been given. High level coaching is all about chasing marginal gains and Maresca has been largely good at setting up this team. All this while dealing with an injury-hit squad and a freak run of red cards. 

 

[Vesper 30,502]

Maresca succeeding after embracing Chelsea heritage and abandoning Pep-ball says journalist

https://Chelsea.news/2025/12/maresca-embracing-Chelsea-heritage/

The Athletic’s Michael Cox has just done a really good piece about Chelsea’s draw with Arsenal over the weekend, and what it says about the manager’s progress at the club.

He wrote that Sunday was the day where it really felt like Maresca had become a proper Chelsea manager, and how did it happen? In large part because the Blues moved away from what the coach had tried to introduce initially, and had come towards what is in the club’s “DNA” and what the fans want to see. Robert Sanchez is no longer playing ever goal kick short, just as an example.

Chelsea “thrive” in sticky situation and go back to their old ways

The red card to Moises Caicedo, put them in a bad position, but they love being in those positions and do well – at least they have in the past.

“For all their successes over the years, Chelsea have always thrived when being in this situation: their opponents with the ball, themselves as the spoilsports. They’ve won titles when criticised for being defensive. They’ve won European Cups as the clear underdogs against more vaunted opposition.”

It’s a really interesting take, and while some would argue that there are fingerprints of the Italian all over this team, there’s no denying this is less like what we were seeing in preseason in the summer of 2024.

It shouldn’t be seen as a knock on Maresca either. He’s been feeling the situation out in his first 18 months, and now seems to be getting to something that works consistently. Let’s not forget that Mikel Arteta’s first year at Arsenal was pretty horrendous (far worse than Maresca’s first season at Chelsea) and it was only when he moved away from the style he had been trying to play that he found success.

He now has Arsenal top of the league and favourites in the Champions League. Who knows where Maresca will have us in a few years time.

In other news…

Malo Gusto also spoke after the game and he was super positive about the way his team had played with ten men, especially considering the standard of their superb opposition.

Joao Pedro noted that Robert Sanchez had had a really good game for the Blues in goal, and had a major hand in the draw (which did feel like a win, in the circumstances).