The Chelsea ownership have been warned not to make a “ridiculous” mistake by sacking manager Enzo Maresca at the end of the season.
Maresca was announced as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor last summer after guiding Leicester to the Championship title.
The 45-year-old signed a five year deal at Stamford Bridge and made a brilliant start to life in west London, with the Blues finding themselves in the title conversation in December.
Chelsea ownership warned not to make mistake
However, they missed the chance to go top before Christmas after being held to a goalless draw by Everton and have now tumbled down to sixth following a run of two wins in their last nine league matches.
Maresca is no doubt under pressure, but Gary Neville feels the pressure should be put on those above the manager.
Chelsea are in danger of missing out on the Champions League, but Maresca has insisted the club told him that wasn’t the target this season.
Missing out the Champions League again would likely have consequences for the Blues and was part of the reason Pochettino was sacked.
Chelsea are said to believe they feel Maresca is absolutely the right man, but it would be interesting to see what they do if Champions League football wasn’t achieved.
Sports broadcaster Rebecca Lowe thinks sacking Maresca would be ridiculous and urged the ownership not to make that mistake.
“I just don’t understand how you can fire Pochettino when they improved and finished sixth but then keep Maresca after this season.
“I think they should keep him, stop firing managers,” she told NBC Sports.
“But, from their perspective, if they’ve done that, I don’t see how they won’t do another firing, which would be ridiculous.
“They’ve got to start sorting out the players’ attitudes I think, the body language doesn’t look great and they’re all too young. That’s the problem for me.
“But you’ve got to keep Maresca unless they plummet down to tenth in which case there’s obviously a major problem. You have to keep him, try and get some stability at the club.”
Maresca’s Plan A is running into a brick wall, with most opponents simply “parking the bus” and leaving Chelsea’s “attack” completely stymied. There is no Plan B, only a Plan A and a half (i.e. Plan A with less talented players!)
We have missed two transfer breaks in which to try and replace Thiago Silva with a mature, experienced centreback to help our young defenders learn to cope with the enormous pressure they currently face. Too much emphasis has been given to signing forwards, and the defence has been left to fend for themselves.
The rest of this season must be spent in devising a viable Plan B, and instilling it into receptive young minds. In the summer, our defence needs reinforcing, and the attack needs to work hard on the new Plan B, or 2025/26 is going to be a very long season!