Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has a point to prove in what is a crucial week for the tactician, amid reports surrounding his future.
Enzo Maresca under some pressure at Chelsea
The Blues’ 3-1 loss to Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday, thanks largely to Trevoh Chalobah’s sending off just after half-time, has put more pressure on Maresca after a winless last few weeks in the top flight.
Chelsea haven’t picked up three points in the league since their 2-0 London derby win over Fulham in late August, with Maresca’s side just edging past Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup and losing convincingly to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Maresca hasn’t been helped by their lack of defensive options, and you can make a serious case that Chelsea really should’ve brought in a star centre-back in the summer as one of their top priorities.
Tosin Adarabioyo, Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill are all injured right now, with Chalobah also suspended for their crucial next league game against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
Chelsea spent £285 million in the summer window, and were the division’s second-biggest spenders behind this weekend’s opponents. However, not a penny of that outlay went on a senior defender, and Maresca will undoubtedly be frustrated by that.
Liverpool
£415,000,000
£187,000,000
£228,000,000
Chelsea
£285,000,000
£288,000,000
-£3,000,000
Arsenal
£255,000,000
£9,000,000
£246,000,000
Newcastle
£250,000,000
£152,000,000
£98,000,000
Man Utd
£216,000,000
£68,000,000
£148,000,000
Nottm Forest
£205,000,000
£107,000,000
£98,000,000
Tottenham
£181,000,000
£36,000,000
£145,000,000
Sunderland
£162,000,000
£44,000,000
£118,000,000
Man City
£152,000,000
£53,000,000
£99,000,000
West Ham
£124,000,000
£55,000,000
£69,000,000
via BBC
Reports suggest that Chelsea are backing Maresca for the time being, and this is echoed by the likes of Fabrizio Romano, who say that the Blues don’t plan to make any immediate changes.
However, while this is their public standing, another reliable journalist, Simon Phillips, has revealed that there is “definite tension” between Maresca and Chelsea’s board — so he is far from bulletproof.
What’s more, it is believed that two big-name Chelsea stars are not fully buying into Maresca’s philosophies.
Cole Palmer and Reece James not fully behind Enzo Maresca at Chelsea
Writing via his Substack, Phillips has named Cole Palmer and Reece James as the players who are not entirely convinced by Maresca, with the former sidelined after Chelsea’s decision to play him through a groin injury.
“There are some players within the group who are also not overly warm with Maresca for different reasons,” Phillips said.
“I’ve reported on Cole Palmer before not really being behind Maresca’s ways of wanting the team to play, and Reece James can also be placed in that same category. There are a few other players as well who are just not overly vibing with the head coach. Of course, you will not hear that in public and in players comments on Maresca, this is not something that will be public knowledge, obviously. But there are certainly some issues in this sense and has been for a while.”
Phillips adds that sources close to Palmer are annoyed by the circumstances surrounding his groin problem, while the £130,000-per-week star himself is frustrated too, as he wants to be fit and firing in the build up to next year’s World Cup.
“Palmer is also annoyed because he wants to make sure he can play in the World Cup at the end of the season,” Phillips continued.
“This again has not become public knowledge but I consider it factual due to how good my Palmer source is. They clearly don’t want to make it seem like a negligent decision to keep playing Palmer, which it absolutely was.”
While Chelsea aren’t planning on sacking Maresca, Phillips suggests that the tactician could decide to walk of his own accord if things escalate any further, as it’s reported that he’s “not entirely happy” at Cobham about a “number of things”.
That being said, despite “many clubs lining up for him”, Maresca would seriously lose out financially if he did do that, so that scenario remains unlikely for now.
Just a few months ago, Pep Guardiola’s former pupil was celebrating back-to-back trophy wins with their triumphs in the Conference League and Club World Cup. We believe he should be given more time yet to turn things around, and Chelsea are planning to back Maresca with a much-needed centre-back signing in January.
That should go some way to alleviating the relationship between Maresca and Chelsea’s hierarchy, while a good run of games would also do wonders to change the mood.