Enzo Maresca Thread

[Special Juan 28,384]

Until he realised that Reece James only belongs in Midfield in his sleep

Fucking madness that he was the best player on the field at RB and a passenger in MF like a headless chicken

Needs to stop and now

[whats happening 1,645]

fucking maresca why did make fofana play like a fucking amateur

[Special Juan 28,384]

Touchline ban for the Villa game after today's yellow

[Strike 7,631]

33 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Until he realised that Reece James only belongs in Midfield in his sleep

Fucking madness that he was the best player on the field at RB and a passenger in MF like a headless chicken

Needs to stop and now

Was done to rotate Enzo who hasn't had a rest for a while. And James had a great game in midfield vs Arsenal only recently

[calculatingInfinity 1,487]

On 19/12/2025 at 01:16, OneMoSalah said:

Would it be a disaster? Really? Maresca replacing Pep at City? Do people think he’s really gonna be able to live up to & improve upon what Pep’s done there? And is he really that good a coach/manager?

I dont give a fuck what he will or wont do at city, i am purely looking at it from a Chelsea perspective. I think he is a great fit for Chelsea and I cant think of anyone Chelsea could realistically get, that I would want to replace Maresca.

 

On 19/12/2025 at 01:16, OneMoSalah said:

Won’t see many folk too upset if Maresca leaves here for City either. He is an insufferable fucker at the best of times.

Well, you can count me as one.

 

 

[NikkiCFC 8,479]

For me discussing Maresca sacking is ridiculous on so many levels. You want board that put goals in front of him that he overachieved to sack him? He got expected CL qualification and Conference League but no one was expecting us to win CWC. He did it. Both Maresca and Boehly are saying we are ahead of schedule. So what would be the reasoning for sacking him? It's like your boss in company you work for tells you your goal is to bring 100k this year in income and you bring 250k and then they sack you because you didn't bring 500k? Doesn't make any sense. Some fans have projections we are still under Roman but this is their problem. 

Edited Saturday at 16:16 by NikkiCFC

[Special Juan 28,384]

51 minutes ago, Strike said:

Was done to rotate Enzo who hasn't had a rest for a while. And James had a great game in midfield vs Arsenal only recently

One game doesn't make him an elite midfielder, he did well but Maresca is trying to force players into the team and sacrificing balance over favourites 

[Fernando 6,678]

3 hours ago, Special Juan said:

DEAD MAN WALKING

Why is that? 

What I see is we tend to start slow and do better in second half. 

Hence defense supposed to be better to keep us alive into the second half. 

Let's see with all this talk with Mareca they back him and get better defense. 

[Mário César 1,382]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

For me discussing Maresca sacking is ridiculous on so many levels. You want board that put goals in front of him that he overachieved to sack him? He got expected CL qualification and Conference League but no one was expecting us to win CWC. He did it. Both Maresca and Boehly are saying we are ahead of schedule. So what would be the reasoning for sacking him? It's like your boss in company you work for tells you your goal is to bring 100k this year in income and you bring 250k and then they sack you because you didn't bring 500k? Doesn't make any sense. Some fans have projections we are still under Roman but this is their problem. 

Of course he won't be fired.

[Vesper 30,622]

Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca to serve touchline ban for Aston Villa game

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6906284/2025/12/20/enzo-maresca-Chelsea-suspension/

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has been given a one-match touchline ban after receiving his third yellow card of the season during Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle United.

The 45-year-old will serve his second touchline ban of the season for Chelsea’s Premier League match at home against Aston Villa on December 27.

The Italian coach was booked by referee Andy Madley in the 58th minute at St James’ Park on Saturday, following his animated reaction to Newcastle being awarded a free-kick for Moises Caicedo’s challenge on Bruno Guimaraes.

Maresca said in his post-match news conference that his complaints stemmed from frustration over perceived inconsistencies in decisions to book players during the match. In the first half, Alejandro Garnacho was shown a yellow card on 27 minutes for catching the foot of Jacob Ramsey after losing possession.

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“I was complaining just because the same foul was yellow card for us and they did exactly the same foul three times,” Maresca said.

“Make foul, take it from behind and no yellow card. So I was just complaining why the same foul, one is yellow card and the other one is no yellow card.”

Per the Football Association’s (FA) disciplinary regulations, members of the technical area receive a one-match touchline ban after accumulating three cautions.

Maresca was shown yellow cards during November’s 2-o victory against Burnley and September’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United. Saturday’s draw was also the second occasion this season in which six or more Chelsea players/staff received bookings, which — per the FA’s regulations — incurs a £50,000 fine.

It will be his second touchline ban of the season, having watched Chelsea’s 3-0 victory against Nottingham Forest from the stands in October, after receiving a second booking for celebrating outside of the technical area when Estevao scored a late winner in the 2-1 victory against Liverpool.

Chelsea’s disciplinary record this season has been highlighted this term, with six red cards shown to his players in all competitions throughout the campaign.

By Cerys Jones and Leon Imber

[Blue Armour 4,587]

16 hours ago, Strike said:

I don't think it is similar to going for Moyes who was never at a set up like United's before and didn't set up his team anywhere close to how Fergie did. With Maresca there's a lot of similarity to City's shape + Maresca has had experience at a big club now. Would not find the switch a huge jump up like Moyes did. 

Not to mention that Moyes came in removed most of Fergie's title winning staff, replacing them with his own. Don't think Maresca would do something daft as that. 

[Vesper 30,622]

Enzo Maresca is committed to Chelsea despite Manchester City links – Newcastle draw showed that

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6906395/2025/12/21/enzo-maresca-Chelsea-man-city-newcastle/

At St James’ Park, Enzo Maresca did not give the impression of a head coach losing interest in his work at Chelsea. The Italian is always animated on the touchline, and Saturday was no different.

The 2-2 draw with Newcastle United was a tense affair, and Maresca felt every twist and turn keenly.

He called out to individual Chelsea players, pointing and directing their positioning, passes and marking throughout. He applauded players in front of him after smart moves or challenges. And, on 66 minutes, when Joao Pedro burst away from Malick Thiaw and scored the goal that secured the visitors a point which seemed unlikely when they were 2-0 down at half-time, his celebrations were typically emphatic.

Maresca must have known there would be extra eyes on him.

It was only one week earlier, after his side’s 2-0 home win against Everton, that he enigmatically called the preceding 48 hours the worst of his 18-month Chelsea tenure due to a lack of support. There is still no real clarity over who or what he was referring to.

Then, on Thursday, The Athletic revealed Maresca is high up on Manchester City’s list to replace Pep Guardiola if the Spaniard leaves this summer — intensifying the scrutiny on the Chelsea coach. In Friday’s press conference, he promised fans he would still be at the west London club next season.

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That meant this game was always going to carry extra narrative weight — and that narrative looked fairly grim after the first half. Chelsea lacked intensity, urgency, and quality in that initial period. Newcastle capitalised on poor defending for Nick Woltemade to score twice, and there was no real indication of a possible comeback.

After Woltemade’s second on 20 minutes, goalkeeper Robert Sanchez appeared incandescent. Cole Palmer walked quietly over to the dugout to take a drink of water. A handful of players spoke to referee Andy Madley. Pedro Neto stood near the halfway line, nibbling the inside of his cheek and staring into the distance. There were a few disparate conversations, but no team huddle to galvanise the team and discuss how they could turn things around.

There is a natural temptation to draw links between the news stories around Maresca and his side’s poor first half yesterday. At that point, it looked as though the story from this match would be one where the noise of St James’ Park, combined with that around their head coach, got the better of Chelsea’s players.

Chelsea appeared lost in the first half against NewcastleStu Forster/Getty Images

That is an easy way out for anyone looking to explain their first-half struggles, but it misses some important context. It also falls flat in the face of what happened next.

Firstly, Chelsea’s performance in the opening 45 minutes at Newcastle was not a one-off. It was reminiscent of their first half at Leeds United at the beginning of December, where they seemed inexplicably surprised by the intensity and hostile atmosphere of Elland Road. They were 2-0 down at the break there too, and went on to lose 3-1.

That was long before the current chatter over Maresca’s future.

Chelsea have experienced poor first halves away from home this season at Burnley and Nottingham Forest, too. Those sides did not have the quality to punish them; a Newcastle team wounded by derby defeat against Sunderland last Sunday and buoyed by their vocal home support did.

It is fair to ask whether Maresca, after those performances, could have better prepared his side to make a stronger start here — it is not fair to say his comments in the past week led to Chelsea’s shortcomings.

But if you were studying Saturday’s match for clues about Maresca’s relationship with his squad and his ability to handle scrutiny, then he also deserves credit for what happened next.

As the half-time whistle blew, he turned and walked straight down the tunnel. His squad followed, looking downbeat and mostly quiet. There was very little to suggest that Chelsea, who had not come from behind to avoid defeat in the Premier League since the 2-2 draw with Brentford in September, were going to produce a comeback.

Maresca’s team were out for the second half much earlier than the hosts. And, less than five minutes after the restart, Reece James gave them hope with a superb free-kick goal. There was no running to the corner to celebrate: Chelsea’s players immediately picked the ball out of the net to restart the game. That was more urgency than they’d shown in the entire first half.

Joao Pedro’s equaliser came from a Robert Sanchez long ballOwen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images

When asked about his half-time message, Maresca said afterwards: “It is a matter of scoring the first one, and if we are able to do that, we have a chance to win the game.” His players clearly bought into that message. His tweak early in the second half, replacing Malo Gusto with Enzo Fernandez, also markedly improved Chelsea’s midfield.

Then came Joao Pedro’s equaliser and Maresca’s wild celebrations — which started with him swivelling back towards Chelsea’s goal to congratulate Sanchez after his long ball up to the Brazil forward. That is testament to how he has been willing to adapt — only last season, he threatened he would substitute his goalkeeper for trying such direct play.

After the match, Maresca only truly appeared frustrated when discussing the yellow card he received, which means he will serve a touchline ban for next Saturday’s meeting with Aston Villa. The 45-year-old was clearly keen to put the chatter of the past week behind him and his team.

“My last week has not been complicated, it has been good,” Maresca said after the match. “We beat Everton, we beat Cardiff (City, in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals) and we drew (with) Newcastle away, so in terms of results, I’m happy. Again, there are things that for sure we can do better, but I think we are going in the right direction.”

This game was chaotic, and it gave Chelsea plenty to mull over: how do they start stronger in difficult away games? With Moises Caicedo, James, Fernandez and Palmer all fit, what is their best midfield? Why did a largely unchanged team produce two drastically different halves?

What they should feel assured of, though, is that their manager remains invested in answering those questions.

Maresca wears his heart on his sleeve in the dugout. At least for now, it is hard to watch him and not conclude he is focused on Chelsea.

By Cerys Jones

Football Writer