It’s one of the great ironies that sport often throws up that Enzo Maresca’s finest hour as Chelsea coach also turned out to be the beginning of the end. The 3-0 demolition of Paris Saint-Germain, the UEFA Champions League winners, made Chelsea the first winners of the revamped and expanded Club World Cup. But the consequences of the squad not having a proper off-season set in motion the events that led to coach and club parting ways on New Year’s Day.
Cole Palmer, the team’s talisman for the previous two seasons, has made just nine appearances in the English Premier League (EPL) this season, and 10 in all. On the surface, Chelsea aren’t having a bad season. They are very much in the hunt for Champions League qualification, sitting three points behind Liverpool, who are currently fourth. In the Champions League, they should at least make the play-off for a place in the last 16. A 3-0 home win over Hansi Flick’s Barcelona showed how dangerous they could be.
Maresca was the EPL’s Manager of the Month for November. But a sequence of just one win in seven has seen them fall 15 points off the pace set by Arsenal, their London rivals. There is immense discontent among the fan base that in a season where Liverpool, the champions, have been so poor and Manchester City have been relatively shaky, Chelsea haven’t been able to push on and position themselves as Arsenal’s biggest challengers. Even Aston Villa, presently third, are a whopping nine points ahead.
Sources close to the developments told RevSportz that the club hierarchy’s plan was always to assess Maresca at the end of the season. But an extraordinary tirade after a 2-0 win over Everton in mid-December raised eyebrows in the boardroom. The Chelsea hierarchy was said to be stunned by his “the worst 48 hours” at the club comment.
When Maresca was recruited from Leicester City – whom he had led to promotion to the top tier – he was well aware that he would be responsible only for results on the pitch. Transfers and other major calls would rest with others.
The first fissures showed when Levi Colwell, Maresca’s first-choice centre-back, went down with a season-ending injury. Chelsea didn’t sanction a move for a replacement, urging Maresca to promote youngsters from within the squad. The first half of the season also played out with the medical team having a huge influence on both starting XIs and substitutions.
Given that many players have been operating on the red line after their summer exertions, the medical team was extremely cautious about workload management. With Arsenal disappearing into the distance, Maresca felt his hands were tied by the limitations on team selection. Moises Caicedo’s suspension after a booking too many further complicated matters.
Palmer played 72 minutes in the 2-1 loss to Villa, and 64 minutes in the 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth. Both times, he was withdrawn with the game all square and up for grabs. Chelsea had over 60 per cent possession in both games, but lacked the cutting edge that Palmer so often provides. Chelsea match-goers disapproved the substitution.
While Maresca initially accepted being a ‘project’ manager, his head had been turned in recent months by rumours linking him with Juventus, and also the City job if Pep Guardiola leaves at the end of the season. Having worked in the City set-up under Guardiola, Maresca also knows how much influence he wields there. What Guardiola wants, he usually gets. And the situation isn’t too different at Arsenal, where another Guardiola disciple, Mikel Arteta, is spearheading a title charge.
Though Maresca enjoyed some eye-catching results, a slow and deliberate approach on the field didn’t set pulses racing in the stands. There’s a feeling that with the talent in the ranks and the number of game-changers they can call on, Chelsea’s football should be more heavy metal than opera. With Maresca now gone – Liam Rosenoir, in charge at Strasbourg, Chelsea’s sister club, is the early favourite to replace him – it remains to be seen what song list the new conductor chooses.
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