Enzo Maresca Thread

[King Kante 1,643]

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 30,217]

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)

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

This is still a a squad with 1bn+ spent on, so I don’t really like this “ahead of the curve” or “ahead exceeding expectations”. When you spend that amount of money, Top 4 should be a minimum requirement no matter how young the team or inexperienced the coach 

that being said, I like how Enzo has brought back the joy, the football looks great, everybody looks like they are enjoying themselves and we are banging in goals for fun. I particularly like how Enzo has proven himself a lot more versatile than we feared. His footy at Leicester was quite one dimensional pass orgies, but we have seen our team play super direct on the counter, classic wing play, under lapping and overlapping defenders, mid press, high press, low block. We have also seen a lot of players who looked like lost causes show how good they actually are. The problems at the back are quite clearly quality issues. I still believe we would be further ahead without a lot of these stupid clownlake BS and more common sense but Enzo has made the most of what he got.

final thought, what I also did not like was how ppl on here said Enzo has no personality smh. From day one he has been a sanguine, positive presence with evident passion for the game and clear ideas. His lack of experience might still catch up with him and it is rare for someone like this to win big titles but on the other hand the more experienced Poch failed spectacularly when it mattered. While the trend was going up at the end, I perceived him as inadvertently toxic at times. It looks like Enzo has learned from and built smartly on last season 

[King Kante 1,643]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

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)

Personally, I am not that convinced the Dippers are that good. They are for sure on a good run, but when I watch them, they can be up and down and seem to be grinding a lot of games. For instance, they should have lost against Soton. Firstly because the ref didn't give Soton a blatant pen when they were 2-1 up and second they needed Soton to essentially score their three goals for them. 

[Special Juan 28,141]

I liked his words in regards to todays game- He spoke about how tough it will be and one of our hardest games, I like this way as it is making the players think as opposed to thinking because they are the basement boys 3 points are not guaranteed. We have had a habit of neglecting teams in the past and this is something Maresca has to turn around and become immensely ruthless against poor opposition and kill them off quickly.

He's getting a style of play together you can clearly see that but he has to deal with the mindset of the players and ensure we become and absolute nightmare to play against and get back to how we used to be many years ago.

[MoroccanBlue 5,383]

6 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. 

Think our current lot are also 1-2 years away experience wise to really challenge too. 

Edited December 4, 2024 by MoroccanBlue

[milka 3,393]

Looking at the schedule, we only have away games against City, Arsenal and Tottenham on Sunday , after January we host United, Liverpool, Tottenham (direct rivals) from the other teams that we have traditional difficulties  (away game against Everton at the end of the month and Newcastle) so a place in the top four is a must no excuses. Title  unlikely this season let's be real . Next year if we get top GK , CB and ST .

[Vesper 30,217]

1 hour ago, King Kante said:

Personally, I am not that convinced the Dippers are that good. They are for sure on a good run, but when I watch them, they can be up and down and seem to be grinding a lot of games. For instance, they should have lost against Soton. Firstly because the ref didn't give Soton a blatant pen when they were 2-1 up and second they needed Soton to essentially score their three goals for them. 

It is more a matter of the other top teams being poor atm.

There is no clearly dominant, clearly the best side on the planet team like 2019-2021 (a run over a season and a half) Bayern Munich, who won everything possible in a 2020-2021 consecutive run (the FWCC was played in early 2021 due to Covid) under Hansi Flick. They won, in a straight linear fashion, the the 2019-20 Bundesliga, the 2019-20 DFB Pokal, the 2019-20 Champions League, the 2020 UEFA Super Cup, then the 2020 DFL Super Cup, and then to finish it off, the 2020 Fifa World Club Championship in February 2021.

The only thing they dropped (and they did win it in 2020, so kept the linear streak going) was the 2019 DFL Super Cup, 2 -nil to Dortmund (that was before Flick came in after Niko Kovač was sacked in November 2019).

Liverpool do have some issues.

Overall they are not the paciest side.

They are lacking a 2nd great CB, and now the starter Konate (who I do not really rate, but he is their 2nd best CB) is out.

They do not have a true disrupter at DMF.

And they are wank at CF.

[Vesper 30,217]

14 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Think our current lot are also 1-2 years away experience wise to really challenge too. 

If we sort GKer and CB (and some minor tweaks) we can, starting next season, and then for multiple years going forward, challenge for both the EPL and the CL titles. Hopefully he get GK and CB sorted before the 2025 new format Fifa World Club Championship. No Barca, no Pool, no Arse in it (and wow are their fanbases PISSED, although Arsenal have not won shit so they can fuck right off) means the only truly HUGE threats to us in that are, talent-wise, Real, Bayern, PSG, Citeh, and Inter, IMHO.

[Vesper 30,217]

Wesley Fofana’s injury presents a problem for Chelsea. Who will Maresca turn to?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5965565/2024/12/04/Chelsea-wesley-fofana-injury-analysis/

Wesley Fofana was a huge reason why Enzo Maresca’s game plan worked so well for the first hour of Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Maresca set up his team to disrupt Villa’s preferred method of playing out from the back, with Nicolas Jackson applying an aggressive first line of pressure. Cole Palmer stuck close to Youri Tielemans in order to limit his opportunities to receive passes and progress the ball.

Behind them, Levi Colwill was encouraged to push well beyond Chelsea’s defensive line to track Morgan Rogers whenever he dropped into deeper areas for Villa.

That left Fofana all alone to manage Ollie Watkins, one of the Premier League’s most relentlessly mobile strikers. Deprived of many of their usual shorter passing options, the visitors tried to find him early and often.

Fofana made one big misjudgement in the first half, allowing Watkins to nick the ball around him from a searching John McGinn pass, and was bailed out by Robert Sanchez in the resulting one-on-one. On the whole, however, he got the better of that particular battle, helping to restrict Villa’s primary goal threat to two shot attempts and 17 touches in total.

Then, in the 56th minute, the body which constitutes Fofana’s biggest strength and his biggest weakness failed him again. He trod and slipped on the ball as he shielded it from Watkins, and felt something give way in his right hamstring.

“These kinds of things usually require three, four, five weeks (for recovery),” Maresca said in his post-match press conference. “In this moment, that means we lose him for 10 or 12 games. The way he was playing, it’s a big loss for us but we have more players and we can find a solution.”

To be precise, Chelsea have seven Premier League matches to play between now and the FA Cup third round, which is scheduled for the first weekend in January. There are also two Europa Conference League matches against Astana and Shamrock Rovers during that stretch, but neither will stress Maresca’s squad. Fofana was not even registered for the league phase of the competition in an attempt to manage his load.

It is in the Premier League where Fofana’s absence will be most keenly felt; he and Colwill have been Maresca’s starting centre-back pairing in 10 of the first 13 matches. While Villa was only their third clean sheet of the season, there have been plenty of indications that their highly complementary skill sets could yield a formidable partnership in time.

 

Tosin (left) and Badiashile are options to replace Fofana (Robin Jones/Getty Images)

Colwill has impressed with his front-foot defending and is clearly Chelsea’s most accomplished passer out of the defensive third. Despite his numerous injuries, Fofana remains an exceptional Premier League athlete, possessing the speed to cover big spaces against highly mobile attackers as well as the vertical leap to dominate in the air in open play and at set-pieces.

Fofana has won 23 of his 33 aerial duels in the Premier League this season according to fbref.com, giving him a 69.7 per cent success rate that ranks fifth in the division among defenders with at least 10 matches played and 30 aerial duels contested. Colwill, for context, has won 19 of 35 aerial duels in 2024-25 (54.3 per cent success).

So which player will provide the “solution” that Maresca is looking for? Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo have at least been able to maintain match sharpness with a regular diet of Europa Conference League outings, meaning none should take long to get up to the speed and intensity of Premier League football.

Badiashile is the frontrunner. That much is clear from the fact that Maresca chose him to replace Fofana against Villa despite also having Tosin to call upon. Disasi did not even make the matchday squad. He had previously partnered Colwill in central defence as a second-half substitute against Liverpool at Anfield in October.

Soon after that game, there was a strong response from within Chelsea to suggestions that the club might consider selling Badiashile. He remains highly valued at Stamford Bridge despite falling below Colwill and Fofana in Maresca’s pecking order. The internal consensus is that he continues to make positive developmental strides and, at 23, has his best years ahead of him.

There are a lot of things to like about Badiashile. His strong, mobile frame is well-suited to the athletic and aerial demands of the Premier League and as a passer out of defence, he is the most comparable to Colwill. Maresca does not appear to have any concerns about fielding two left-footed centre-backs together and, in any case, Badiashile was deployed as a right-sided centre-back on numerous occasions during his Monaco career.

To succeed next to Colwill as Fofana’s deputy, however, Badiashile would need to eliminate the damaging lapses in concentration that have undermined some of his good games in a Chelsea shirt and punctuated many of his bad ones. The idea of him providing the last line of cover in front of Sanchez will be a particular source of unease for anyone who recalls his bizarre mis-control to gift Newcastle striker Callum Wilson a goal in last season’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Stamford Bridge.

On the evidence of this season so far, Tosin is the likeliest alternative if Maresca decides he does not trust Badiashile. The former Fulham man was picked to partner Colwill the last time Fofana was unavailable for a Premier League match, due to suspension against Liverpool at Anfield in October.

He lasted just 53 minutes that day, his substitution coming shortly after he and club captain Reece James failed to account for Curtis Jones’ late run into the visiting penalty area which yielded the decisive goal in a 2-1 win for Liverpool. That sequence was an example of Chelsea struggling with Maresca’s desire to set ‘‘the Pellegrini offside trap’ on the edge of their box, and their 1.9 expected goals (xG) conceded at Anfield marks it out as one of their three worst defensive performances of the season.

Tosin has not appeared in the Premier League since, though he has been a part of two clean sheets against vastly inferior opposition in the Europa Conference League and highlighted his aerial ability with a goal in the 8-0 rout of FC Noah last month. He has so far looked a reasonable squad addition for Chelsea, though not a significant upgrade in any aspect of his game on Trevoh Chalobah.

Disasi would be the most surprising choice, given that Maresca has played him at centre-back for just 62 minutes this season, against Barrow in the Carabao Cup third round in September.

The noises coming out of Chelsea from the early days of pre-season were that Disasi was not considered technical enough to play in Maresca’s system. The Italian’s selection over the first five months of the campaign has done nothing to dispel that notion. The Frenchman’s few minutes as a nominal right-back, predominantly in the cup competitions, have felt more geared towards keeping a senior player involved and invested rather than priming him for a bigger role.

 

Disasi against FC Noah (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Disasi’s one Premier League start at right-back, away at Bournemouth in September, did not go well. He is nowhere near agile enough to deal with fleet-footed wingers and struggled mightily to contain Marcus Tavernier in one-on-one situations. He is a pure centre-back, and one with considerable qualities, even if they are not the ones most valued by Maresca.

A regular fixture under Mauricio Pochettino last season, Disasi is the most physically imposing of Chelsea’s centre-back options and faster than he looks, though not quite enough to convince when asked to defend large spaces. He is also a strong personality and communicative presence, which is why he has regularly captained the Europa Conference League side.

Maresca’s comments after the Villa win made it clear he considers Fofana to be a significant upgrade on all three of the established centre-back alternatives in his squad, particularly in games where Chelsea seek to press high and defend with almost half of the pitch behind them.

There are no perfect solutions but given Fofana’s injury record, this particular question was always likely to present itself at some point. Maresca’s success in finding an answer will have a significant impact on just how strongly Chelsea can finish 2024.

[Fernando 6,585]

On 28/05/2024 at 15:50, DH1988 said:

Think it's the sporting directors way of trying to buy time on what is perceived as their last throw of the dice in decision making, sporting guys wanted Enzo, Clearlake wanted De Zerbi.

I guess in the end the sporting guys where right. 

I guess they will continue making those choices. Just upgrade to transfer guru in defense please. 

[DH1988 1,348]

8 hours ago, Fernando said:

I guess in the end the sporting guys where right. 

I guess they will continue making those choices. Just upgrade to transfer guru in defense please. 

I think he's exceeded everyone's expectations, perhaps even his own, he gave an interview about speaking with Carlo and he took some advice on the high line for example. What cannot be questioned is his work ethic, alongside his team, he gives them credit where its due as well.

[Fernando 6,585]

50 minutes ago, DH1988 said:

I think he's exceeded everyone's expectations, perhaps even his own, he gave an interview about speaking with Carlo and he took some advice on the high line for example. What cannot be questioned is his work ethic, alongside his team, he gives them credit where its due as well.

Now we need to see how he gets a long with the directors when they keep buying more younger players..... 

[Strike 7,492]

Every media outlet is running a story "Are Chelsea title contenders"

We need a plan to keep expectations where they are right now and go through this title race without feeling like there's an expectation to win 

[Strike 7,492]

3 hours ago, DH1988 said:

I think he's exceeded everyone's expectations, perhaps even his own, he gave an interview about speaking with Carlo and he took some advice on the high line for example. What cannot be questioned is his work ethic, alongside his team, he gives them credit where its due as well.

For me, the summer where he took one look at our wingers and decided this needs wholesale changes - was a good sign. Pushed Sterling out. Got Neto Sancho and Felix in. I thought it was overkill at the time but its really changed the attacking options we have for a long season

[Strike 7,492]

2 hours ago, Fernando said:

Now we need to see how he gets a long with the directors when they keep buying more younger players..... 

Even before they buy there are 2 exciting young talents joining next season - Paez and Estevao - who will feature in the Club World Cup in America I think

I would be happy if the directors keep buying the best available young talent. Shouldn't rest on our limited success and keep being aggressive in the market imo

[ZAPHOD2319 4,819]

8 hours ago, Strike said:

Every media outlet is running a story "Are Chelsea title contenders"

We need a plan to keep expectations where they are right now and go through this title race without feeling like there's an expectation to win 

 

[DH1988 1,348]

Very odd, I don't feel like we are in one, we simply aren't ready, gathering momentum and pressure will do nothing except solidify 'billionaire bottle jobs' for the second time.

[Strike 7,492]

Another one. There's so much title challenge talk now - hopefully there is a plan to ensure this doesn't get into people's heads at the club. I am under no illusions we can sustain this run but it will help to be positioned as underdogs 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,819]

Maresca ball