After Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Everton, Enzo Maresca let loose on his emotions in the post-match conference and called out Chelsea for their lack of faith in him.
“Since I joined the club, the last 48 hours have been the worst because many people didn’t support us.”
Maresca: BBC Sport
What does he mean by that?
Does he mean the fans?
If so, the team has just won a match after two defeats and a draw; of course, they aren’t as happy as you want them to be.
The fact that you’ve been constantly tinkering with your starting Xi doesn’t help with that.
What has made them even more frustrated is that you have been putting players under the bus by not playing them in the correct positions.
Take the Leeds game as an example, Trevoh Chalobah, a centre back at right back, seriously? Who does that, especially when you have Malo Gusto and Reece James on the bench?
We get that you want to rest and rotate players, but do it correctly, by playing players in their positions.
That’s why the team hasn’t gained any consistency in performance and results.
There is no doubt that Maresca is a highly talented coach who deserves a lot of credit for what he has done in the past two years.
But some of the decisions he has been making over the past few weeks have cost Chelsea the chance to compete for the Premier League title.
That is what has annoyed them the most.
Maresca: Is It The Owners?
Embed from Getty ImagesSince BlueCo have took over the club, there hasn’t always been a healthy relationship with the fans.
Embed from Getty ImagesThomas Tuchel took Chelsea to their second Champions League win and their first Club World Cup win in the final years of a very successful reign under Roman Abramovich.
Yet since BlueCo have come in, their model has primarily been to develop players and then sell them for pure profit.
Embed from Getty ImagesMauricio Pochettino, who spent the whole of the 2023/24 season at the club, had a falling-out with the ownership and poor results, which he managed to turn around in the latter part of the season.
Questions still get asked about the players the club buys, but it’s not as frequent as it was a year and a half ago.
Coming back to what Maresca said about not having support, it’s still unclear to whom he is referring.
Maresca’s Centre-Back Conundrum?
Embed from Getty ImagesPerhaps it could be based on Chelsea’s summer Transfer Window, and not getting a replacement for Levi Colwill.
If so, this is a valid point.
Though Trevoh Chalobah, Josh Acheampong and Wesley Fofana have done a decent job in that position, Tosin Adarabioyo has been far from consistent in that role.
Let’s also not forget that this is the first season that Fofana hasn’t been out for an extended period due to injury, but Maresca still wants to protect him by managing his workload.
If that’s the case, and you want to rotate, do it between the three of them?
Tosin right now needs to be dropped, because his head doesn’t seem to be in the right space of mind in terms of his defending.
If the whole squad were fit and available, you would say that Colwill and Fofana would be the first-choice centre-backs, followed by Trevoh Chalobah and Josh Acheampong.
As one is out with an ACL injury and the other’s minutes are being managed, play Chalobah and Acheampong together.
Chelsea has used a total of seven Center-Back pairings this season, which is not an ideal situation for a club that wants to win trophies.
This is a worrying situation for a team that should be challenging for trophies, especially in the Premier League.
What Maresca needs to do is keep things simple, stick to what works, and avoid tinkering with players and their positions.
If he does that, consistency in performance and results will follow, which will get the fans back on board with the club and the manager.
What are your thoughtson Maresca’s issues at Chelsea?
