Chelsea suffered their second league defeat in a row yesterday at the hands of Brighton.

On the surface, most would say that this was an unavoidable result due to another red card, this time for Trevoh Chalobah, but there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Enzo Maresca and Chelsea.

The Italian boss is showing signs of external frustration, both in press conferences and with his decision making in matches.

He has seemed to aim small digs at the recruitment, recently suggesting it was “clear” that Liverpool wanted to win the league again with their summer signings.

So, is it the beginning of the end? Is Maresca going to get the boot? Will he walk? Is he at war with the club? Will things get any better?

First off, it is important to point out the factual reasons as to why Chelsea are not producing consistently good enough results and performances right now.

Let’s start off with the two main contributors that are out of Enzo Maresca’s control. One factor is the Club World Cup, where it seems the players are paying the price for summer success.

They are tired, and with the hectic schedule and only two-three weeks in the off season, are finding it hard to recover and turn around whilst also being expected to deliver top class performances.

Maresca is not described by sources as someone who is overworking his players like Mauricio Pochettino did in training sessions or with style or play, which was one of the reasons the ownership grew majorly concerned with their former hire.

Yes, Chelsea may have a less intense press and are struggling in games where they take a man to man marking approach, but sources insist this is more down to natural fatigue rather than any unnecessarily aggressive training sessions.

The second factor is the constant mistakes from players. Red cards, sloppy touches, lapses of concentration and so on.

In this case, one would hope these mistakes naturally dry up and become less frequent by law of averages and with more time playing together as a team.

Devils advocates will argue that the mistakes are not just a rare opposite purple patch, and that they are down to player quality, is Maresca one of those?

Sources speaking to LondonsFirst confirmed that Maresca was and is still unhappy with the 2025 Summer transfer window.

Maresca, according to sources, feels underwhelmed by the current level of players that were signed.

The only outlier was Liam Delap, who Maresca lobbied for behind the scenes.

But even in this case, it is understood that Delap was a club target no matter who was in charge, with the club valuing his price and potential highly.

There is a feeling from Maresca’s side that as much as he is the coach and it is his responsibility to improve players, he does wish he had more individuals in his squad he could lean on and rely upon both in matches and day to day work “to show other players the way”.

Maresca has made many public comments in regards to the lack of experience in the squad, and the above mentioned is showing in his decision making during games.

He is a meticulous coach that likes to allow a period of adaptation for every new signing to understand his ideas tactically, but is understood to be disappointed with how long some of the players are taking to grasp what he wants from them on and off the ball.

Sources have denied previous reports that Enzo Maresca had any form of increased power or say in the last transfer market.

It was described as business as usual, with Maresca recommending profiles, which the club delivered up until the centre back request, but it was more the player choices that Maresca finds himself less than enamoured with.

Chelsea disagree, and feel that overall they delivered both the profiles that Maresca asked for, as well as players that could make a short and long term impact.

This ultimately is the current disconnect, and it is about how Maresca goes about his business over the next few weeks and months as to the extent of drama that will or will not occur.

For example, sources told LondonsFirst that the hierarchy will “get fed up pretty quickly” if they deem Maresca is making constant digs towards the strategy or their recruitment decisions.

Chelsea have sympathy for Maresca for the injury situation but will be keeping a close eye on how he manages and particularly balances the new challenge of four top competitions with his squad.

Despite recent form and the internal disagreement over the summer, there are no current suggestions that Maresca will be sacked or walk any time soon.

Thus, potential future managerial targets such as Cesc Fabregas, Liam Rosenior, Andoni Iraola and Roberto De Zerbi, who was understood to be the top post-Pochettino target until financial and sporting terms could not be agreed upon, will not be realistically available mid season.

The Italian is said to be fully focused on turning around Chelsea’s form and will keep trying to find internal solutions to current on pitch issues.

Reports of players being unhappy with the coach are described by sources to LondonsFirst as “The easy thing to say when results aren’t going well and performances look bad on the eye”

Unless Maresca goes balls to the wall and launches a clear attack on the ownership, or the club deem the results and man management are no longer indefensible, no change is expected to be made, with optimism still high that fortunes will turn around soon.