The Enzo Maresca era is underway at Chelsea with some ropey preseason performances.
William Gallas has had his say on the new regime, and it’s fair to say he’s not too hopeful. In quotes picked up by the Sun, the former Blue didn’t hold back in his opinions on the struggles the new coach might face:
“Even though it’s pre-season, I’m concerned about Chelsea and I’m concerned when I look at the squad,” Gallas said.
“I hope to see him stay until at least the end of the season and get that opportunity to show what he can do but it’s always going to be the same problem.
“If he doesn’t have the right players and team to compete in the Premier League then it will be incredibly difficult for him. Not just with Chelsea but all Premier League owners, they have no patience anymore.
“Despite all the money they’ve spent, the squad still isn’t good enough to qualify for the Champions League, they have so many players and they still need more quality. Could Enzo Maresca be sacked before Christmas? Anything can happen in football,” he concluded.
Pessimistic or just realistic about new era?
All we can do is hope that Gallas is being too pessimistic – but on many counts it’s hard to disagree. This squad finished 6th last year. Is it significantly better than that squad now? No. Is it better at all? Maybe not. Is the new manager going to inject 20 extra points? Probably not.
We’d love Maresca to succeed, but even in the best case scenario it’s easy to see him needing a few months of bad results to get his message across. A slow start seems very likely (especially given preseason results and performances so far). Sacked by Christmas? We hope not, but Gallas isn’t a million miles off in claiming it’s possible.
William Gallas is a bitter old man with very few brain cells