The pressure is beginning to rise on Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca following their woeful run of form.
The Blues are on a run of two wins from nine games in the Premier League, seeing them drop out of the top four for the time being.
John Obi Mikel believes Maresca would have been sacked already by Roman Abramovich if he was still in charge of the club, and he echoes most Chelsea fans in believing they need to return to the Champions League next season.
The manager has a number of issues to solve with his first team squad, most notably in finding a new striker. Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu have suffered injuries that are expected to keep them out for a prolonged period of time.
The boss has called upon Christopher Nkunku to lead the line, however he hasn’t shown anything since coming in to suggest he can become the long-term answer.
The Frenchman has struggled for regular first team minutes this season, and Steve Sidwell believes a missed chance from Nkunku was down to a lack of regular playing time.
There have even been calls for a winger to be named in the number nine position. Jason Cundy called for Maresca to start Pedro Neto up front.
Enzo Maresca’s squad management much worse than Thomas Tuchel’s at Chelsea
The boss looked to rotate heavily when the Conference League and cup competitions came around, however that was the cause of a number of players getting frustrated.
Joao Felix and Renato Veiga were pushing to leave in January because of a lack of opportunities, and this is an area that Maresca has now been criticised on.
Matt Law has shared how he was told by someone at Chelsea about how impressed they were regarding Thomas Tuchel’s squad management when he was in charge, and how it drastically differs from what Maresca’s time at the helm.
He said to ‘London is Blue’: “When Tuchel was manager, someone at Chelsea behind the scenes pulled me aside one day and said ‘you need to look at how good this guy is managing the squad. Just look at the minutes he’s giving everybody. The squad love him because everybody feels involved. Nobody feels left out.’
“He was giving people really, really meaningful minutes, even players like Ross [Barkley] would get on with 20/30 minutes to go, and he would rotate them in for matches as well.
“I see problems from earlier squad management in the season when I thought he was being clever and in actual fact in the long run maybe it hasn’t been quite so clever.
“Whether that’s inexperience, he’s never coached in the top leagues before, he’s never married up a league season with a European season, he’s never tried to keep a squad of international players happy before. It could be something he learns very quickly, but I think he’s paying the price for that at the minute.”
Comparing Enzo Maresca and Thomas Tuchel’s time as Chelsea manager
The new England manager is seen as one of the most successful managers in recent history at Stamford Bridge, highlighted by the Champions League win in 2021.
The German has a fantastic record as Chelsea manager, which so far exceeds that of anyone who has followed him in the hotseat, including Maresca.
| Maresca vs Tuchel as Chelsea manager | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Win % |
| Enzo Maresca | 37 | 21 | 7 | 9 | 56.76 |
| Thomas Tuchel | 100 | 63 | 19 | 18 | 63 |
Tuchel managed 100 games as Chelsea manager, finishing with a 63% win rate. Maresca has been successful however it is notable that the European games he is playing are against far easier opposition.
There is no immediate pressure on Maresca from the owners of the club, however questions will be asked if the Blues do not qualify for the Champions League for next season.
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