Enzo Maresca Thread

[Vesper 30,217]

I like him

we chose well

[cfccrost 23]

Not very happy with his tactics sometimes and in game changes

[ulvhedin 526]

2 hours ago, cfccrost said:

Not very happy with his tactics sometimes and in game changes

yesterday game was strange, I understand why he didn't want to risk players health for League Cup, but in that case why even put Palmer on the bench? Why didn't he at least put Guiu in the game, when it was clear Nkunku is having a nightmare? Personally I am not sure also that Chilwell, Casadei and Chukwu are worse than players who played yesterday, but can understand a reasons for them not to play.

[milka 3,393]

When the owners don't set a goal of top 4 and at least one trophy after 3 years of management and hundreds of millions spent, then the fans set it as a minimum goal and if it's not achieved, sack. If Don Roman was at the club, Maresca could only dream of being at the club. From a ruthless club, we are now a farming club .

[Fernando 6,585]

But he has done good so far. What are you on about?

This is serious knee jerk reaction as always. 

On the whole Maresca has done much better then Poch or any other manager since Todd and company has been here. 

Club just need to focus on defense and gk. 

[DH1988 1,348]

In-game management has been good so far, not over reacting or about to regarding that but last night just stunk of "it's the Carabao cup" and we have too many games type thing but I completely disagree. Jose and others reference that Carling cup win as a catalyst for a relatively young and new group to push on, not saying this team is that team but what it does for experience and knowing how to win is something we've lacked for so many years.

[mkh 601]

'Work in progress' - how Maresca is turning Chelsea around

On 29 November 2008, Enzo Maresca was Sevilla's defensive midfielder when Pep Guardiola's high-flying Barcelona were the visitors.

It would turn out to be a key moment in his career. A lightbulb moment of clarity, when thoughts the 28-year-old Maresca had on how the game should be played were turned on their head.

It would be more than eight years before he, as a young coach, could begin to try to put into practice what he had witnessed that night when Barca strolled to a 3-0 victory as Sevilla spent most of the game trying to figure out how to get the ball.

The die was cast; Maresca always knew that he wanted to be a coach, but now, thanks to Guardiola and that night in Seville, he knew exactly what type of coach.

Having also learned from the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Marcello Lippi and Manuel Pellegrini as a player, Maresca enjoyed spells as an assistant manager at Ascoli, Sevilla, and West Ham - under Pellegrini.

He then joined Guardiola's Manchester City, first transforming the fortunes of the club's under-23s side, before returning to City as assistant manager after an ill-advised spell in Italy with second division Parma.

And after taking Leicester City back into the Premier League at the first of asking, Chelsea came calling.

He arrived as the club's fourth manager since American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital bought the club in May 2022, and with the new regime having spent more than £1.5bn on players.But, amid the challenges of an oversized squad and talk of managing Chelsea being an impossible job, Maresca has earned growing plaudits for the performances on the pitch and calming the situation off it.

How and why did Chelsea go for Maresca?

Enzo Maresca's Chelsea have only lost two of his first 10 Premier League matches in charge

Last season Chelsea witnessed Maresca's abilities first-hand, when Leicester gave them a scare in a 4-2 FA Cup quarter-final win, but that game was just confirmation of what the club's decision makers had already seen in him.

It was a brave decision by the Blues to part company with Mauricio Pochettino in the summer, who many felt was beginning to turn things around.

But the club felt they needed a different type of manager, one who was able to accept the club structure and a role that mostly has to do with coaching, and who would work with the policy of buying almost exclusively young players.

Maresca was asked to travel to London for an initial meeting with Chelsea's owners, and the club's sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

At the time, the club were still considering the likes of Thomas Frank, Roberto de Zerbi and Kieran McKenna, but they felt they had found the right man.

Maresca brought his computer for a second meeting, but the thing that stayed with those present was his desire to work with the squad he had already studied in detail.

"I love these players," he told them. He was very keen to manage one of the youngest squads in Premier League history.

The club was looking for a first-team coach with an attractive style, based on possession football, control and domination of the game. They wanted an energetic approach but with the ability to be flexible.

Maresca ticked all the boxes.

Chelsea were tempted to shake hands there and then, but opted to finish the selection process.

Maresca though, informed the club his immediate priority was to go on a planned family holiday in Marbella. He would take the family to Spain and travel back the next day to meet in London.

Understanding the situation and impressed by his priorities, Chelsea decided to travel to him.

With other clubs interested - including Manchester United - representatives of the London club made the journey to southern Spain to seal matters.

Once he arrived in Marbella, the owners offered Maresca a handshake before details of the contract were even finalised.

For Chelsea, it was a way of telling him they did not want an employee but a partner. They wanted the manager to buy into the concept. Maresca offered his hand, and the agreement was in place. The rest was just paperwork for others to do.

He signed a five-year deal, just 12 months after completing his first full season as a manager.

What did Maresca find at Chelsea and what is their model?

Serious decisions had to be made on his arrival, notably the selling of youth product Conor Gallagher to Atletico Madrid.

The club talked to Maresca about their intentions; he has the freedom to accept players and question club decisions.

His squad is now full of players he wanted, with the exception of one case who he accepted the club's approval for despite not being sure about.

But with Gallagher everybody was aligned.

With just a year left on the midfielder's contract, Chelsea and Maresca found themselves between a rock and a hard place.

If he stayed he would have to renew, but they were struggling to agree on financial demands and Chelsea were never going to allow his contract to run down. The player had to depart.

Coming the other way was Joao Felix, who returned to the Blues having spent an unsuccessful loan spell there in 2023, but on much lower wages and a seven-year deal.

"I don't do miracles," is one of Maresca's favourite sayings, and you can imagine him pointing that out about a player who has struggled to fulfil their potential.

The club though, were convinced he could be useful and that Maresca's detailed work would make him better. Eventually the coach accepted the challenge.

Felix was an exception to the rule. The Chelsea model works on the basis that their potential stars - young players with huge qualities - are paid a fixed sum plus performance-related incentives.

The new ownership say they do not want to be hamstrung by high wages as the previous regime were.

It is all about trying to build a sustainable model for the long-term that allows players who impress to be rewarded with extensions and more money, as Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer got in their new contracts, while allowing the club to move on those who underperform, easier to do when they are on average Premier League wages.

Enzo Fernandez, for example, was signed from Benfica in January 2023 for £107m - but on a nine-and-a-half-year contract.

The deal was certainly an upgrade on what the midfielder was earning at Benfica, but still said to be nowhere near what he could have earned elsewhere.

Chelsea's owners say the long contracts are not given with a view to try to amortise the value of a player over a number of years, but rather to build the right model to make the club sustainable, including the shaping of a squad that can be together for years.

It does not matter how much a player costs, but they have to come with one big condition - to have the right background, character and ability to be team players.

Maresca, identified by the club to guide them for the next decade, can have any player he wants as long as they are under the age of 24 and willing to commit to the team long-term.

He wants two players for every position as a bare minimum and, with that now in place, he does not envisage signing more than two or three each transfer window.

To outsiders, one of the most impressive things Maresca has done is stabilise a squad that was seen as being hugely inflated, with talk of in excess of 45 players. The manager though has a first-team squad of 23 and that is what he has dealt with since day one.

Many clubs will have a squad of about 18 of their strongest players with the remaining numbers made of youngsters. Chelsea have added one or two more because of the schedule this season, which could see them playing 70 matches across four competitions, plus the Club World Cup.

Chelsea believe talk of an oversized squad was also exaggerated, because it included players who have suffered mid to long-term injuries, those who have been pre-signed with a view to the future and others who don't fit into Maresca's plan and will be moved on.

What defines him as a coach?

Maresca led Leicester to promotion to the Premier League last season

Maresca is most at home doing what he does best - coaching.

The club has a hands-on owner who likes to be part of the decision-making but respects the knowledge of the two directors of football, Winstanley and Stewart, who work closely with the manager.

The first to arrive and the last to leave each day, Maresca is working to address a culture at the club that has led many young superstars to believe their arrival at Chelsea was the fulfilment of their ambitions.

Winning over the players is paramount.

To do that he delegates his closest colleagues to analyse matches and opponents, looking for improvements, correcting mistakes and planning strategies.

People like assistant manager Willy Caballero - the former Manchester City and Chelsea goalkeeper - and coaches Danny Walker and Roberto Vitiello, fitness coach Marcos Alvarez, analyst Javi Molina and goalkeeper coach Michele de Bernardin.

Chelsea currently have two goalkeeping coaches.

Maresca brought De Bernardin with him even after he was told they already had Henrique Hilario. He was clear he would not come if De Bernardin could not come. He wants his people around him because he believes it makes his decisions better.

You can count on one hand the players he has in the dressing room who have won major titles at European or world level.

It is a work in progress. Maresca knows he has to build a new set of coaching habits, new routines, and needs people he has worked with to help him create them.

It is part of his plan to make Chelsea players stop thinking about positions and consider playing in a wider, less regimented and fluid way.

Maresca has already had to rise to challenges that do not have to do with tactics.

He could have done without the Fernandez controversy during pre-season, when the midfielder posted a video on social media showing him and his Argentina team-mates in a racist and discriminatory chant questioning the heritage of France's black and mixed-race players.

It certainly did not sit well with the many French black and mixed-race players in the Chelsea squad, and could have derailed team spirit before the season had even started.

Fernandez acknowledged the mistake he had made when he spoke with his coach on the phone. He was worried about what the reaction of his team-mates would be when he joined them on a pre-season tour of America.

Most importantly he did not try to justify what he had done, accepting straight away his mistake in front of his team-mates in a hotel room where the club were staying.

So for the time being things are heading in the right direction, and confidence is high from the boardroom all the way down.

Maresca crossed paths with one of his oldest mentors, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, when Chelsea played them in pre-season.

His fellow Italian greeted him with an idiom meaning "now it is all serious stuff, mate". Maresca laughed.

Ancelotti whispered in his ear: "Drop your defence back about 10 yards and you should have fun this year."

Maresca told him that it was a legacy of the past, and that things would be corrected to fit his ideas and style.

And making the team his is exactly the work he has been doing.

As for the success of the long-term vision? Only time will tell.

[milka 3,393]

City, Liverpool, United, Arsenal - 0 wins, draws at home against Palace and Forest. 11 games, 5 wins and 4 draws, no particular progress. If you want to be a factor, you have to beat  teams from the top 4, and we have no victory against such a team. Against United and Arsenal, it was an excellent moment for Maresca to make his mark with win, but only 2 points against teams that are currently in crisis.

[Mário César 1,280]

5 minutes ago, milka said:

City, Liverpool, United, Arsenal - 0 wins, draws at home against Palace and Forest. 11 games, 5 wins and 4 draws, no particular progress. If you want to be a factor, you have to beat  teams from the top 4, and we have no victory against such a team. Against United and Arsenal, it was an excellent moment for Maresca to make his mark with win, but only 2 points against teams that are currently in crisis.

we need to put some context in this games and in our calendar since the start of the season

I also believe that could be a bit better, but still we have in a good position til the end of the season

[Mário César 1,280]

delete

Edited November 12, 2024 by Mário César

[Mhsc 1,098]

Lol, Leicester players just had a Christmas party in Copenhagen and made a sign saying "Enzo, I miss you"

Leicester fans had no idea how lucky they were

[calculatingInfinity 1,472]

On 30/11/2024 at 15:40, Mhsc said:

Lol, Leicester players just had a Christmas party in Copenhagen and made a sign saying "Enzo, I miss you"

Leicester fans had no idea how lucky they were

Lmao I met them in a hotel connected to a bakery where i was having breakfast. The day after this partying had been going on, so they were pretty hungover. This was the day cooper getting fired was announced, they didnt seem too bothered

 

Edited December 1, 2024 by calculatingInfinity

[Ledg 643]

https://streamable.com/d5ak6b

His little dance after full-time. 🥺🥺🥺

[Strike 7,492]

The board got this appointment right 

[MoroccanBlue 5,383]

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 6,585]

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 7,492]

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 8,334]

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 30,217]

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 7,492]

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