Chelsea’s 2-2 draw to Ipswich at Stamford Bridge yesterday dented hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
For Clearlake and Todd Boehly, it would represent three seasons without a competition that was almost guaranteed every single year under Roman Abramovich, alongside silverware.
Head coach Enzo Maresca is coming under heavy fire from the Stamford Bridge crowd who have quite clearly had enough of his style of play.
It was a very toxic experience at Stamford Bridge yesterday and for all the cries of needing to support the team from those online, you can’t blame the fans.
Going two nil down to Ipswich at home is bad enough, but the simple fact that Ipswich, who are very likely going to be relegated, looked the more formidable unit and better tactical side in the first half of the match was inexcusable.
Fans screamed “attack, attack, attack” as Robert Sanchez, Tosin and Levi Colwill passed the ball round the back with no plan for progression in front of them.
Maresca seemed to blame the fans after the game for Sanchez deciding to boot long upon fans booing and creating a ruckus, citing the “environment” as the reason he did such, which led to the second goal.
Is Maresca the main issue at Chelsea?
Of course he isn’t. Although this article will state what he needs to improve on, no manager under this ownership has had the time or worked under perfect conditions to succeed.
It was perhaps utterly ridiculous to even hire Maresca in the first place, considering his severe lack of top level coaching experience, but it is even more ridiculous to suggest that he should be the fall guy should Chelsea not qualify for the Champions League again.
Chelsea would in this case be three seasons without playing in the prestigious competition, yet the determining factor is the manager? I don’t think so.
Devils advocates might point to the fact that Clearlake, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart simply hired three bad managers, which is a simplistic view but also feasible. In any case, the directors and ownership are the main reason for the downfall of Chelsea FC.
Over a BILLION pounds has been spent rebuilding the squad, and yet bar left back, right back and midfield, every other area is not at the level required perhaps even for Champions League qualification.
I mean, can Chelsea really expect to finish in the top five when the starting keeper has the most errors leading to goals in the league cannot use his feet? Sure, play Jorgensen then? Well he hasn’t exactly pulled up tree’s either.
Centre back is a position where you need reliability both on and off the pitch, and Chelsea have neither.
Levi Colwill has had a poor season with constant lapses of concentration and mistakes at the back, Wesley Fofana is a sick note, while Tosin, Badiashile and Chalobah would not look out of place at a mid table side.
Noni Madueke has certainly took strides in a positive direction under Enzo Maresca and has netted seven league goals, but Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto have been underwhelming and do not deliver enough output.
Then you have the striker, where Nicolas Jackson is a good player technically and stylistically suits the system, but ultimately fails to put the ball in the back of the net on enough occasions.
His movement inside the box is also non existent and looks more comfortable when drifting in wide areas.
All of these fundamental squad building mistakes, yet Maresca is expected to turn water into wine.
I am genuinely shocked at the lack of standards and accountability from above, this is not just “par for the course” anymore, costly mistakes have been made both on and off the pitch without repercussion except firing coaches as of course, the model must not be the issue!
Maresca needs to fix Cole Palmer’s poor form
Despite all of the squad building deficiencies, Cole Palmer is not one of them.
He has gone fourteen matches without a goal in all competitions and is cutting a frustrated figure in matches.
For all Mauricio Pochettino’s downfalls, he did give more freedom to the attacking players.
Palmer is a player that needs that freedom and as a number ten, he is still a threat, but not as much as when he cuts inside on his left foot from the right forward position.
Maresca needs to be less rigid in his system and allow for more than just build up from the back, pass wide and then pass inside or cut back from a wide area – he is being found out against deep blocks.
Palmer is not devoid of any blame either, he has missed simple chances to score like a two on one against Manchester City and a one on one against Aston Villa, but his overall play and lack of impact in matches is far more concerning.
Ever since Maresca started facing deep blocks, Palmer has been shut out centrally and there seems to be no room for adaptation due to Maresca’s insistence on having his wide players as true touchline wingers.
Why Maresca needs more time
I need to see at least another half season plus the summer from Enzo Maresca to decide fully if he is the man to take us forward or not.
Like players under this model, which by the way is absolute lunacy and the ultimate reason as to why we are inconsistent and do not look competitive in big games, is because Maresca is also learning on the job.
We know Maresca is a perfectionist, it’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t allow attacking freedom and is so obsessed with control, because he is scared of what comes back at us the other way.
In this sense, Maresca and his staff could look at things analytically and review matches in the period before the club World Cup starts, around two weeks after the end of the season.
Once the players head for a small break, Maresca can use this time to come up with fresh plans. The issue at the moment is that he simply doesn’t have time to drill anything new into them.
Only after a period of self review and a full season under his belt will we see if Maresca is capable of adapting his structure and tactics enough to steer us forward.
Are you not fed up of change? It also does not make sense!
The ownership and directors preach for time and stability when it comes to players, yet act like Roman Abramovich when it comes to sacking managers.
How are players this young supposed to improve year on year if every year, the manager changes?
Sadly, Chelsea are not in a “win now” period anymore, so sacking Maresca will do more harm than good. We do not have the squad built to instantly turn around a bad season, it would be starting from scratch again.
Are you not as fed up as me either with the hires? Okay, you dislike Maresca, sack him – but what’s next? Another data driven young coach?
If Chelsea sack Maresca, a temporary relief may occur within the fanbase until the same problems occur down the line with another coach.
It is not defeatist to say they will occur, they quite literally WILL as the squad has not been prepared in a way to be consistently competitive.
I have no interest in starting off scratch with Liam Rosenior, Thomas Frank or Andone Iraola, for example.
If yet another manager does not survive past one season, I severely doubt the pull of the club to get a top, proven manager as 1) Most are at clubs / nations already, and 2) the model does not look at manager’s, they look at coaches, which eliminates half the market.
It also would not make sense in a timing aspect to sack Enzo Maresca. Chelsea do not have a normal summer because as previously mentioned, they got straight into the Club World Cup two weeks after the end of the season.
If a new coach came in, they would already start at a massive disadvantage due to likely only having one or two weeks of actual “pre season” in the summer.
Considering said individual would in all likelihood hold a similar philosophy to Maresca, you start to wonder why you would bother in the first place.
Conclusion
Keep Enzo Maresca until it becomes untenable. Maresca should not pick fights with the fans even if he is right and he needs to be more adaptable and deploy a less rigid structure.
Ultimately, the club have to prove their own words of “long term” and keep a coach more than one season, especially as Maresca is the only hire thus far to have Chelsea consistently competing for the Champions League spots.
Even if Chelsea miss out, pointing fingers at Maresca and not the squad building which has so many holes and imbalances would be a severe get out of jail card once again for the ownership and directors, in my opinion.
