Second place in the Premier League standings after 16 rounds. They are four points ahead of Arsenal (third place) and two points behind Liverpool (first place). True, Arne Slot’s team has one more match in hand.
Chelsea currently ranks first in the Premier League in terms of the number of goals scored – 37 goals. It’s still cautious, but the team can begin to dream about the opportunity to compete for the championship. Which was absolutely not expected under Mauricio Pochettino and Graham Potter. What has Enzo Maresca accomplished in just six months at Stamford Bridge?
Chelsea finally got it right with their coach
In June 2024, the majority of Chelsea fans expressed great dissatisfaction with yet another change of head coach. At that moment, it seemed that Pochettino had already found the football that suited the team. But the club management unexpectedly dismissed the Argentine specialist. The team received a new coach who is not as famous among the giants of European clubs as his predecessor or, for example, Jurgen Klopp. The only thing that caught my eye was that Maresca looked like Guardiola.
After a couple of months, it became clear that Maresque had an action plan from which he was not going to retreat. And, which is very important for modern football, the Italian specialist spares no time for the theoretical part. Even under Pochettino, Moises Caicedo complained about the operating principle: “We only have running. No one pays attention to the tactics and tasks that we must perform on the field.” As a result, Moises worked with a personal trainer who explained to the player the intricacies of football in his position.
Transforming transfer duds into key players
Enzo Fernandez, Nicholas Jackson, Moises Caicedo, Mikhail Mudrik, Christopher Nkunku heard so much criticism before Moreschi arrived at Chelsea. However, after a couple of months the picture changed dramatically.
Nicholas Jackson
Nicholas Jackson has blossomed this season. Today he can safely be called one of those who is related to the success of the team. Without losing his best qualities (the ability to open up, rush into the penalty area with the ball), Nicholas began to more often find the right positions to realize scoring chances, apply pressure and, most importantly, convert chances. Maresca slightly adjusted Jackson’s role on the field. The Senegalese is less involved in creation, but is more in search of moments. His intuition and ability to change direction quickly work well during set pieces. Another important quality that Maresca revealed to a greater extent is playing without the ball. Jackson masterfully presses and plays defense. To summarize, Jackson became one of Maresca’s key players.
Christopher Nkunku
The transfer of Christopher Nkunku was considered a failure. And it’s not at all about the player’s qualities. Nkunku could not reach his peak level due to injuries. Maresca quickly realized that the football player should be taken care of. Therefore, Nkunku appears mainly in Conference League matches, where he looks quite confident. True, the coach trusted Christopher to play in the match with Southampton. Nkunku lived up to expectations – a goal plus an assist. Everything suggests that after some time Christopher will shine in the Premier League.
Enzo Fernandez
The start of the season, like the previous campaign, turned out to be difficult for Enzo Fernandez. In addition to the fact that the Argentine did not show the football that Chelsea hoped for, he also got into a racist scandal. The situation was hushed up. Fernandez was supported by the club and head coach. “Everyone can make mistakes. But if a person admits a mistake, you shouldn’t punish him too harshly,” Chelsea’s head coach defended the Argentine in the fall. A little later the following trouble happened. The Argentine decided to return to the life of a bachelor and separated from his girlfriend. Enzo overcame this too. Today, Enzo Fernandez is one of Chelsea’s best players. In every match, the player performs an effective action, sometimes even more than one. “Evil tongues” say that a bachelor’s life has been beneficial. But we shouldn’t forget about the productive work of the team’s head coach.
Jadon Sancho
It seemed that Jadon Sancho’s transfer was hopeless. At the start of the season, the Englishman was not convincing. But after some time, the footballer began to remember his best qualities as a player. The most striking example is, again, the match with Tottenham. “Chelsea conceded in the 11th minute. And everything was going to the point that the Spurs would be able to beat the Blues, as they recently did with Manchester City. But that was not the case. Sancho was reborn. Having burst into the center, he left Porro and Dragushin behind him, powerfully shot at Forster’s goal (Tottenham goalkeeper). Jadon’s goal brought Chelsea back to life. Sancho himself began to act more actively, to find free space, to break into the penalty area. In a word, to create a threat to the opponent’s goal. Today it is already clear that the Englishman fits perfectly into Enzo Mareschi’s football philosophy. While Sancho does not have a place in the team’s starting lineup for Premier League matches. This is not surprising, Palmer and Jackson are the key players, but Maresca was very wise in dividing the squad into different tournaments. All players get playing time and can prove their worth to the coach. a necessity for the team. In the case of Jadon, Maresca turned a “weak” transfer into a useful acquisition.
Cole Palmer in the center
Before Maresca arrived at Chelsea, Palmer looked cool, but like a tumbleweed. A football player could play on the right in some matches, then suddenly in the center. Palmer, as a free artist, brought results in any position. Maresca saw Palmer as an attacking midfielder and placed him in the center on a permanent basis. Of course, Palmer shifts to the right if necessary and can play as a number ten, winger, or false nine. But the overall stability in the position (minus the discrepancy in the settings before each match) revealed Palmer’s qualities that the team needed so much – passing, searching for free space, dangerous passes into the opponent’s penalty area, unpredictability and, as a result, goals scored. Palmer in the center is one of the keys to Maresca’s success.
Cole Palmer has become even better this season than under Pochettino. Of course, on the one hand this is natural. A good football player develops and improves his qualities in each new season. But provided that the team is doing well and the coach does not change every season (which could not be said about Chelsea back in the summer of 2024).
Discipline
Enzo Maresca came to a club where there is sometimes not enough space for players in the locker room, there are so many of them. It is almost impossible to work in such conditions. There were rumors that Pochettino didn’t even know how many players he had or what some of them were called. The Italian solved the problem quickly. Divided the squad into the base, reserves and a group of players for the exit. Accordingly, the first team plays in Premier League matches, while the reserve team goes to Conference League matches. Well, those who are in the third group do not play at all, like Ben Chilwell, or occasionally appear on the field, like Raheem Sterling. The biggest advantages of this approach are the order and the playing basis. We should not forget that the majority of football players playing in Premier League matches have the opportunity to rest during Conference League matches. The same cannot be said, for example, about Manchester City.
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And the team plays well in the Conference League. Every football player strives to bring results, to work one hundred percent and a little more, because in the future he can get into the first group of players – the basis for the Premier League. First place in the Conference League standings is a worthy result.
Thanks to this practice, Maresca can already see the playful combinations of his base players. In attack, one can see an ever-increasing understanding between Palmer, Jackson and Madueke, in the supporting zone – between Lavia and Caicedo. The Colville-Fofana duo looks great on defense.
The team is growing up
It’s no secret that Chelsea has a large number of young players. Of course, previous coaches also worked on the professional growth of the team. We must not forget the fact that Pochettino not only knows how to find a common language with young people, but also knows how to open them up. Maresca managed to pick up this stage of the relay and make progress. The result is visible in matches with the giants of the Premier League – Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool. Yes, of course, at some point the “pensioners” missed out and there was a feeling that they were about to fall apart. But it turned out that the Chelsea youth have developed a fighting spirit and can now respond to offensive goals taken by them.
Enzo Maresca has made a lot of progress in a short time. The team today looks like a worthy opponent to the Premier League giants. And even if Chelsea doesn’t get into the top 3, but stays in the top 5, it will be a success. But, do not forget that so far only the autumn part of the season has passed. A much more difficult period awaits the team and Marescu ahead. Anything can happen. Whether the players and Maresca will pass the exam will be seen in May 2025.
Mikhail Mudrik and the big question
Mikhail Mudrik was also starting to gain momentum. True, not as fast as, for example, Nicholas Jackson. The Ukrainian did not appear in Premier League matches as often as he would have liked. But he was able to become one of Maresca’s key players in the Conference League and League Cup matches. The match with Panathinaikos can easily be considered one of the brightest in my entire stay at Chelsea. Goal and two assists. The last time Misha scored three points was back in Shakhtar – the Champions League match with RB Leipzig. We can say, of course, that Mudryk’s minimal progress this season is a pleasant accident. But it should be noted that the Ukrainian’s play has become more meaningful. He began to look more often on the field as part of the team rather than as a separate unit in a Chelsea T-shirt. However, the latest news about a positive doping test is still cutting off the wings of hope for a bright future for the Ukrainian winger as part of Chelsea. Today everything suggests that Mudryk will be engaged in non-football matters in the near future. Lawyers, courts and training separately from the team.
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