Chelsea have just beaten Fulham 2-1 with two late goals, a potentially massive moment in the race for the top 5. The players all went to celebrate with the away fans, who have been on their back a lot recently. It looked like a good chance to build bridges.
But the BBC’s Nizaar Kinsella, on location at Craven Cottage, noticed that the man who got the most grief from the fans, manager Enzo Maresca, didn’t stick around to soak up the applause:
“It was curious that after the match manager Enzo Maresca only briefly celebrated with his coaching staff before going down the tunnel. The rest of the players and coaching staff were wildly celebrating a last minute winner.”
Kinsella then wondered what the coach would say about his reaction in the press conference after the game, and we now have the answer from the man himself:
“I was very happy because it is a nice feeling to win the game at the end. The players deserve to celebrate with the fans, that is the reason why I left the pitch early. It was a nice moment for the players and the fans,” Maresca said.
Maresca standoff likely to continue despite positive moment
Despite today’s good result and good vibes, it doesn’t feel like the tension is going anywhere anytime soon. Maresca has set his stall out – he’s not going to change his style of football. And Chelsea fans aren’t suddenly going to start enjoying it all of a sudden.
Of course, what could happen is that results improve to the point that nobody minds the boring football we play – but we’ve got a long way to go before that’s the case. Either way, he’s bought himself a lot of time and some credit this afternoon.
Maresca just ain’t good enough for Chelsea’s calibre; Chelsea, requires somebody better…
Let’s not forget that he’s managing the youngest squad in the league—by a wide margin. How do you conclude that he’s not good enough when he’s got a third-rate keeper and no real experience to anchor the defence. Sure we’ve had trouble scoring of late, but we’d easily be in third place if not for Sanchez’s persistent errors. A world class keeper and one experienced centre back (a la Thiago Silva) to help steady things and provide an incisive pass from deep every now and again and we’d be nipping at Arsenal’s heels next year.
That and a healthy Lavia would do wonders. We conceded the Iwobi goal not just because James was lackadaisical in possession, but because Enzo didn’t react immediately and with urgency to defend when the ball turned over. He shirks his defensive responsibilities time and time again and, with Cole Palmer offering nothing defensively, it leaves Caicedo (who has been Kante-esque) too much to clean up. None of that is on the manager (since he has few options to replace Enzo). That’s on a young player (Enzo) to recognize that his mental focus and positional awareness has got to be better or it will cost us a spot in the Champions League. These are the margins and they are not down to Enzo Maresca not being “good enough.” (After all, wasn’t it the manager’s insertion of George and his moving Neto to an inverted winger on the right that led to both of our goals? Not good enough my eye!)
I appreciate that Maresca’s managing a young, inexperienced side. My difficulty is his insistence that his style of play is the only acceptable way if you want to play for Chelsea. If an intelligent player such as Enzo/Caicedo sees a defence splitting long ball, should they play it then they’re out. Isn’t that persistence with a system that doesn’t work the reason Ipswich are virtually relegated?