With Chelsea having had a good start to the season, with a big game on the horizon against Manchester United tomorrow as a major staging post, it seems as good a time to have a little retrospective on Enzo Maresca and his time at the club so far.
That’s exactly what Jacob Steinberg has done in the Guardian today, and it’s full of interesting little details about the Italian coach’s reign so far.
The journalist notes from his sources that “Maresca is low-maintenance. There is admiration for his eye for detail, his training regime, the hours he puts into studying video analysis of his own team and upcoming opponents,” all things you’d expect from a good manager, really.
Steinberg also takes into account how the Italian coach has changed up the style he was expected to use in order to better suit Chelsea’s players:
“Maresca’s flexibility has been a welcome surprise. This Chelsea team thrive on chaos, so it makes sense to tap it when victories will breed confidence. Maresca has the league’s best creative talent – Cole Palmer – and, in Nicolas Jackson, Pedro Neto and Noni Madueke, flying forwards who run amok given space.”
Praise well earned, but Maresca still needs positive results
Despite all this praise, results are what count, and tomorrow it’s vital we get a good one. A draw against Nottingham Forest, a defeat to Liverpool and a cup defeat to Newcastle make up 3 of our last 4 games and the strong form we saw to start the season is just starting to falter a little. Tomorrow is a decisive game for perceptions – win it and we’re back to being one of the most impressive performers in the league so far this season. Lose it and this little wobble might be getting serious.