There hasn’t been a huge anti-Enzo Maresca move from Chelsea fans, and it feels like a large part of that is just down to apathy. Managers have been cycled through so quickly in the last couple of years and debates have raged back and forth about each of them, so there just doesn’t seem much appetite to argue about the situation given we have barely finished arguing about Mauricio Pochettino.
But some pundits from outside the club are looking at the situation with fresh eyes, and they can’t believe what they’re seeing in the dugout.
Stan Collymore’s column for Caught Offside was pretty forthright in it it’s take on the situation. He doesn’t think Maresca is going to survive the vast expectations and difficult situation he’s putting himself into:
“The Blues need to get lots of very good results very early if they want to get into Europe, and by that I mean the Europa League,” Collymore wrote.
“I would be absolutely astounded if, when we get to Christmas, there aren’t rumblings about Maresca’s position already because it’s a young, fickle, rookie group.
“For me, it’s an underwhelming appointment, the club should have stuck with Poch, and I get the feeling that come November/December time, we’ll be having another conversation about Chelsea changing their manager again.”
Another huge risk
He’s spot on with most of that, and it echoes what a lot of Blues fans have said in recent weeks. Everybody is going to give the new guy a chance, but their frustrations right now are aimed as much at the people picking the managers as with the managers themselves.
As always however, the summer is a time of endless optimism, and we’re sure there will be plenty of excitement and support when the big kick off comes along.