Enzo Maresca Thread

[Special Juan 28,358]

Oh pity me with this bloke, got no sympathy for him what so ever

[mkh 648]

BREAKING: Enzo Maresca has an internal issue at Chelsea which prompted his post-match comments about not feeling supported.

It has been made clear to Enzo Maresca that Chelsea's youth-led model WILL NOT dramatically change because it is backed by the hierarchy and starting to bear fruits. 

Co-owner Behdad Eghbali along with sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley believe the project is starting to pay off. 

And Chelsea have doubled down on their investment in youth by adding highly-rated recruitment expert Dave Fallows to work across football development.

(@JacobsBen)

Edited 14 hours ago by mkh

[Vesper 30,577]

Clear tensions between club and Enzo Maresca

There's been a host of things that have gone on - insiders on 'last 48 hours' and more...

https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/sources-clear-tensions-between-club

 

It’s rarely going to be plain sailing between any club and a manager, and with Enzo Maresca and the Chelsea board room, it’s certainly been far from it lately.

You will remember that around a year ago, we started getting reports from SPTC Sources that things were not all that rosy. A handful of the players had been unhappy and not convinced by Maresca’s tactics, and the board were also unhappy with how things were going on the pitch. It led to pressure on the manager and the need for immediate improvements. Those improvements came and the noise died down.

On the player side, to be fair, I’ve not heard anything since then on them feeling discontent with the manager. There hasn’t been any fallouts or anything like that - I’ve not heard of any players causing issues or the manager throwing his weight around, I believe it’s all stayed professional and good enough relations. But what happened a year ago still plays on my mind there.

On Maresca’s side, he’s felt the pressure a number of times. He’s asked for certain things or certain types of players in the market, and feels he has not been given them. That caused a strain at the end of last season.

Obviously we won the Club World Cup and the Conference League, and everything seemed fine again.

But during this recent slump, the tensions have come back out, and SPTC Sources have heard of clear tensions in the last few weeks.

Maresca’s comments yesterday, although this has to be more my opinion rather than sourced info because I’ve not heard this yet directly, are aimed at the board and not the fans. I am sure that Maresca will attempt to sweep up his comments and say he didn’t aim them at the club, or there will be some briefings saying it was a mis-translation due to English not being his first language, or some other excuse. But based on other things I’ve heard and my own opinion, I have no doubts that these comments are aimed at the board.

Maresca said:

‘The last 48 hours have been the worst 48 hours since I joined the club because many people didn’t support us.

‘So I’m very happy for Malo, that the effort from Malo and from the rest show that they are all there and they want to help this club.’

Asked to clarify his statement, Maresca repeated: ‘Worst 48 hours since I joined the club because people didn’t support me and the team.’ He added: ‘I love the fans and we are very happy with the fans.’

What we have heard

From two of our top SPTC Sources, there are absolutely issues between Maresca and the board.

Last season, as we reported at the time, Maresca had thought about walking due to tensions between him and the board and him not getting backed in the market. I honestly thought he would walk and I do still feel this could happen. He’s struggled with the pressure and once again, is believing he is not receiving enough support from the club.

There’s been a feeling amongst the Chelsea hierarchy that we have regressed from last season with some of the performances. Certain figures have become a bit ‘fed up’ after recent form, and the blame has been placed on the manager for this.

Some high up at the club believe Maresca has been ‘playing too safe’ and hasn’t been using his squad properly. People like Jorrel Hato has hardly played, and Estevao is not being used as much as some believe he should be. Playing players ‘out of position’ was also mentioned to me as a gripe. In-game management is another thing I heard about. His tactics overall have been questioned.

I got given all of this info on Thursday afternoon, and now these comments from Maresca. So, putting two and two together here, I imagine that a lot of this stuff has been communicated to Maresca ‘in the last 48 hours’ and that is what he is snapping back about.

It’s not a good situation that he has now gone public with this, but I expect the club will do their best now to sweep this mess up with briefings and playing it all down.

However, I can only see this going one way the next time we lose some games. Chelsea have been reluctant to make a managerial change midway through the season, but some of the reports of them having contingency plans in terms of looking at other managers, has always been true. They have a long list of managers that they admire, and all the names that you hear such as Liam Rosenior, Cesc Fabregas, Andoni Iraola, Oliver Glasner, and many more, are all on the manager shortlist should they decide to make a change. If it is midseason, due to them pulling the trigger or Maresca having enough and walking away, then I’d suspect an interim would come in until the summer.

However, I must reiterate that the club do not want to make any changes right now and are continuing with Maresca, unless more drama ensues and both parties become even more fed up. Anything can happen.

These situations usually only end up going one way, whether that’s anytime soon or not we will have to wait and see.

[mkh 648]

🗣️ @Matt_Law_DT: “If Enzo Maresca’s complaint was at the Owners/Sporting Directors then I’m afraid he’s fighting a losing battle.”

[Special Juan 28,358]

So lets get this straight, after a poor run of results did he want the owners to feel sorry for him and cuddle him?

 

[iceboy 1,040]

I would go for Emery.

[Fulham Broadway 17,508]

It was not clear exactly who or what Enzo Maresca was referring to in his cryptic comments, but it seemed obvious he was looking to send a message.

In the previous 48 hours, Chelsea had returned from his native Italy after defeat in Bergamo to Atalanta, held a single training session at Cobham, attended a pre-match news conference where he appeared relaxed and ended a four-game winless run by beating Everton.

It was clear from Maresca's regular news conferences that he believed his tenure at Stamford Bridge had been a success so far.

He was proud to have won the Club World Cup and Conference League while qualifying for the Champions League in his first season. There had been mixed messaging over whether the latter was a target before the campaign, but it increasingly became a club objective after Chelsea made such a positive start under his leadership.

It meant Maresca ended last season ahead of schedule while delivering on the project. He had still not lost more than two league games in a row.

It is clear, therefore, that Maresca has felt exposed by criticism while managing the youngest squad in the Premier League. He has also been without Cole Palmer for most of this season, Moises Caicedo for several matches and Levi Colwill for the entirety of the campaign - all regarded as among Chelsea's best players in their positions.

[Fulham Broadway 17,508]

Maresca is 4th in terms of points after 54 games...

1st  Liverpool 110  Slot          

2nd Arsenal    107   Lego Head

3rd  Citeh        102  Pep

4th  Chelsea     97    Maresca

 

[NikkiCFC 8,466]

2 hours ago, mkh said:

🗣️ @Matt_Law_DT: “If Enzo Maresca’s complaint was at the Owners/Sporting Directors then I’m afraid he’s fighting a losing battle.”

People celebrating this better think twice. It was the same with Poch. Obviously board doesn't like a manager with an opinion which is every top manager in the world. 

Also shows that both Poch and now Enzo are not yes man as labeled by fans.

[Pizy 19,036]

Not really having this complaint from Maresca if it’s about not feeling fully supporter by the higher ups. Like us, they can see him continue to play weird ass lineups, play players out of position, and stubbornly picking a player like Tosin despite him directly costing us numerous games whilst a superior player sat on the bench. Nobody forced him to do all this stuff.

Only legitimate complaints he can have for me are that the club refused him a new CB when Colwill went down for the season and the fact that he has been without Palmer for most of the season which has been unlucky.

[OneMoSalah 8,958]

Tbf looking more into it, it seems the manager has noticed the sporting directors are a nightmare. But so is Maresca - 100% both need to go but the owners will only back one side if it comes down to it, the sporting directors.  

The argument for this youth based model really bearing fruit is a bit of a joke as well, isn’t it? All it has done really is drastically reduced the wage bill. 

Unless scraping into the CL on top of winning a trumped up pre season competition & 3rd tier of European football with a £2.5 bn pound squad (should of walked it) is all this mob has aspirations for there needs to be a shift in mentality at all levels.

After the Maignan deal not going ahead & not signing a CB on top of trying to force the likes of Felix, Veiga amongst others on Maresca last season - I can see why he feels the need to be butting heads. 

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by OneMoSalah

[Fernando 6,666]

Not a yes men, but the massive rotation has been costing him greatly. 

Especially in defense. That is one area that needs little rotation as we need to build stability back there. 

[whats happening 1,639]

4 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

People celebrating this better think twice. It was the same with Poch. Obviously board doesn't like a manager with an opinion which is every top manager in the world. 

Also shows that both Poch and now Enzo are not yes man as labeled by fans.

when we end up with a new guy like it was with benitez or potter people will cry to bring back maresca

[TheHulk 2,592]

1 hour ago, whats happening said:

when we end up with a new guy like it was with benitez or potter people will cry to bring back maresca

Maybe cry to bring back Tuchel or Conte or any former top coach we had certainly not Maresca a complete fraud of a coach, the sooner he fucks off the better. Not only is Maresca a shit ass coach but he is also unlikable.

Edited 4 hours ago by TheHulk

[whats happening 1,639]

seems like you already forgot how shit we played in last half of year under tuchel. i bet if you were here on the forum then, you would moan about him like you do it now.

conte will never stay at a job for more than 2 years so who cares about him anyway

[TheHulk 2,592]

2 minutes ago, whats happening said:

seems like you already forgot how shit we played in last half of year under tuchel. i bet if you were here on the forum then, you would moan about him like you do it now.

conte will never stay at a job for more than 2 years so who cares about him anyway

I wanted him to stay at the time and even kept defending him from some fans including here who were shitting on him and saying Potter is better.

Emery also went through a bad patch at the beginning of the season languishing on the bottom of the table and he bounced back, that's what top coaches do, even they are prone to bad patches but you can always count on them bouncing back just like Tuchel would've bounced back. 0 goals conceded with England in whole preliminary maximum points. 

3 years since these cowboys bought us and Tuchel is still miles above any of the guys they recruited since.

[Thor 2,777]

2 hours ago, TheHulk said:

I wanted him to stay at the time and even kept defending him from some fans including here who were shitting on him and saying Potter is better.

Emery also went through a bad patch at the beginning of the season languishing on the bottom of the table and he bounced back, that's what top coaches do, even they are prone to bad patches but you can always count on them bouncing back just like Tuchel would've bounced back. 0 goals conceded with England in whole preliminary maximum points. 

3 years since these cowboys bought us and Tuchel is still miles above any of the guys they recruited since.

What is adequete with this current team? 

He has won us the CWC and the Conference trophies. 

Should we be challenging for the title? I think we should be on more points for sure - and his decisions have cost us, but he also hasn't had a fully fit team. 

I'm torn. 

 

I don't like the inconsistency. That is on the manager. Beating Barca and outplaying Arsenal and then losing to the teams we lost to is unacceptable for me.