Enzo Maresca Thread

[Vesper 29,343]

Chelsea’s big-game mentality has deserted them – just look at their record against the top teams

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6207167/2025/03/17/Chelsea-arsenal-results-mentality/

It may not be what some of their fans want to hear but Chelsea’s problems run deeper than the tactics of head coach Enzo Maresca. When it comes to the big games, this squad have a serious belief issue.

The underwhelming display in their 1-0 away defeat against Arsenal on Sunday was the latest chapter in a series of disappointing performances from Maresca’s side since late December. Even the four straight wins which preceded Sunday’s game, against Southampton, Leicester and Copenhagen (twice) were unconvincing.

Maresca certainly has questions to answer about what is going on right now, and judging by the reception he got from some in the away end at the Emirates Stadium yesterday, they want to hear some better ones, even though Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League with nine games to go.

Yet the sign of a very good team, one capable of not only qualifying for the Champions League via a top four/five finish but also competing to win Europe’s top club competition itself, is their record against fellow top sides. We are talking Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City (despite their downturn this season). Manchester United and Tottenham have to be included too, even though they are struggling in the table’s bottom half this season, because they also have intense rivalries with the league’s other big fish.

When Chelsea were at their best during the Roman Abramovich era in the first two decades of this century, competing for and winning Premier League titles (five of them) on a regular basis, victories over that quintet were commonplace. Chelsea would go to places like Arsenal and most people in the crowd, let alone the 22 out on the pitch, would know what the result would probably be. And if it wasn’t an away victory, it would at least be a draw.

But those days are a distant memory now and Chelsea’s record in these fixtures since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium took over the club in May 2022 makes for bad reading.

 

Reece James, third right, clashes with Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

If it wasn’t for Cole Palmer scoring the latest winner in Premier League history against Manchester United in the 101st minute back in  April (Chelsea went into stoppage time 3-2 down that day), they would have no wins against United, Liverpool, Arsenal and City in all competitions over 26 matches.

Even if you add Tottenham, who Chelsea have dominated results-wise for over 30 years, whether they were any good or not, it does not look a great deal better.

To highlight how worrying this trend is, just look at the table below.

TEAM	PLAYED	WON	DRAWN	LOST	GOALS FOR	GOALS AGAINST
Manchester City	9	0	2	7	6	19
Arsenal	6	0	2	4	4	13
Liverpool	6	0	3	3	3	8
Manchester United	5	1	2	2	8	11
Tottenham	5	3	1	1	12	8

As it also shows, Chelsea have been outscored by every one of these teams during this period, apart from Spurs. This simply is not good enough.

Also, if you just consider Premier League matches, they have only three wins in their last 20 away games against teams who have started the day above them in the table. Chelsea last bucked that trend against Bournemouth in September.

To be fair, some of Chelsea’s struggles against these opponents began before the change of ownership. Chelsea last won at Arsenal in August 2021 — the same year they also had their most recent triumph over Liverpool at Anfield. They also beat City three times in 2021, at the Etihad in the Premier League, at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final, and in Porto in the Champions League final. They have failed to beat City home or away since.

There were some promising signs that the gap was narrowing under Mauricio Pochettino last season with the two draws against City and that dramatic success over United. Maresca can also point to the first half of this campaign, where Chelsea genuinely looked good in draws with Arsenal and United. After the 2-1 loss away to Liverpool in October, their coach Arne Slot conceded Chelsea were the only team his men had faced this season who had been “better than us” — well, until they faced Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League’s round of 16 this month, anyway.

There is October’s 2-1 home win against Newcastle, while December saw a 3-0 triumph over Aston Villa, also as Stamford Bridge, and coming from two goals down to beat Spurs away, to offer some encouragement. And the hope is that Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke will all be back after this 17-day break for international matches and the FA Cup quarter-finals.

But overall, there is still something missing; that ability to face the toughest tests and come out on top. A mental block.

The people now running Chelsea have deliberately chosen a transfer policy which focuses on signing youth and potential, and it means they now have the youngest team in the Premier League. But playing such a long-term strategy, waiting for players to develop into the finished article you’ve envisioned, is coming at a cost.

 

Marc Cucurella cuts a frustrated figure at the Emirates Stadium (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Chelsea looked beaten from before the kick-off on their previous trip to the Emirates back in April, and lost 5-0. It felt the same on Sunday, especially in an opening half-hour when they did not have a single touch in the opposition penalty area and the home side dominated. To Chelsea’s credit, they managed to stem the Arsenal attacking tide but they still never looked like scoring.

Now, they were without key attacking players, Palmer and Jackson in particular. Romeo Lavia, so impressive in that loss to Liverpool at Anfield, was a late substitute having just returned from two months out with his latest injury. But Chelsea in their pomp knew how to cope with such setbacks and get the result anyway.

When asked by The Athletic if he thinks this is a problem he inherited and has to overcome, Maresca did appear to admit something is missing. He replied: “If the results say that… what I can say (is) between the first game against Arsenal (November’s 1-1 draw at the Bridge) and today’s game, to be honest, I don’t see a big difference between us and them.

“This means we are… for me, since I arrived… I have the feeling we are on the right path and we are very close. We need just that step forward to compete in these kind of games. That step comes finishing in the top four, top five, Champions League spot.”

Nobody can dispute that the August 2023 addition of Moises Caicedo from Brighton & Hove Albion has improved Chelsea’s midfield, but you can sense a bit of frustration over their struggle to make that final step. Speaking to Sky Sports afterwards, he said: “The team is good, the team is working hard to win the games. We want to show character, we want to play our best football and we want to win games like this.”

The topic is relevant because, with just five points between themselves in fourth and Bournemouth in 10th, the race for Champions League qualification looks like going to the final day of the season.

Chelsea’s nine remaining fixtures include meetings with Tottenham, Liverpool and United. To return to the Champions League next season, they simply have to add more numbers to the wins column in their biggest fixtures.

[Special Juan 27,605]

The stats and records on file for us right now make horrendous reading. 

Like the article alludes to, the shite performances were we won are the most scary thing for me, because the teams we faced are shit, but so are the performances from us.

I really cannot see it changing any time soon

[Fernando 6,512]

I would still want him to continue. 

I rather continue and fix the squad this summer then rinse and repeat with someone new and try the same players. 

 

[Special Juan 27,605]

The rinse and repeat will always happen at this club, no matter what they say or whatever media briefing is thrown out there backing him, if things don't change I will be very good money he is gone before the end of the season. If we come back after the internationals and we lose 3 he is gone, there is no sticking with process it simply doesn't happen now at this club. 

If we are splitting hairs I am more worried about the two cunts upstairs Winstanley and Stewart than I am of Maresca, and bare in mind I am seriously worried about Maresca