January 1st saw a bombshell dropped at Stamford Bridge with Enzo Maresca and Chelsea agreeing to part ways.
‘Out of the blue’ might not be totally accurate. Cracks have been showing in the relationship for a few weeks now, but not many expected such a swift Stamford Bridge exit.
Chelsea fans aren’t happy with Maresca’s sacking, but the relationship became untenable.
There are many reasons for that. Results being poor played a part, but really it was off-field issues that sealed the Italian’s fate.
Enzo Maresca has officially left Chelsea! Who would you like to see replace the Italian? 🤔
Michael Owen explains why Enzo Maresca left Chelsea
Ever since that statement week of top performances against Barcelona and Arsenal, things have gone downhill at Chelsea.
A second successive December in which Chelsea dropped off the pace will not have helped Maresca’s case.
But Michael Owen doesn’t see that as the main issue, as he explains to Stan Sport Football.
He says: “I don’t think it’s solely because of results. Results haven’t been great, but when you look at it as a whole, they have qualified for the Champions League, they have won a European competition. They won the Club World Cup, they’re fifth in the league, I don’t think results have been bad enough.
“This is more off-field stuff, and lots of it. If Chelsea were top of the league he would still be in a job, but the overwhelming thing is disagreements behind the scenes, which we have been talking about.”
Owen has hit the nail on the head with his assessment.
It was widely accepted that Maresca had credit in the bank after last season’s triumphs, and this recent dip in form wouldn’t have been enough on its own to seal his fate.
What did that was the obvious deterioration in the relationship between him and his bosses. The Chelsea board felt Maresca became distracted by recent links to the Man City job, and his occasional fiery comments will only have made that worse.
Chelsea need as little disruption as possible with new head coach
The decision has been made to relieve Maresca of his duties at the halfway point of the season, so priority number one is to manage a smooth transition to whoever they choose to replace him.
Maresca leaves at the halfway point 👋
What should expectations now be for the end of the season?
If Chelsea can’t stay in the Champions League spots, that would be a disastrous outcome.
We have seen it happen before where a new manager has taken over and won straight away, but we have also seen things go wrong during such a change.
The candidate BlueCo select will be expected to produce results quickly — the season is far from over.
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