- 4 hours ago
Chelsea and Enzo Maresca have parted company "by mutual agreement" after 18 months in charge. Despite winning the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup rumours have persisted about tensions behind the scenes from their failure to compete for the Premier League. The Blues now face the reality of starting 2026 without a manager.Adam Clery looks at Maresca's time in charge to assess if he underachieved, or if his links to the future Manchester City job were more than justified.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel, where we try to make football make sense.
00:07Enzo Maresca has parted company with Chelsea, the footballing equivalent of a mutual breakup,
00:13but they're not having a terrible season.
00:16Like, recent results have been frustrating rather than disastrous,
00:20and they're still pretty well placed in both the Premier League and the Champions League.
00:25So, why?
00:26Well, today we are going to show you why the club was displeased with how he was setting this team
00:32up,
00:32but also why Maresca was quite personally frustrated at how he was being forced to utilise this group of players.
00:41You will be surprised how much of what's going on at Chelsea right now is playing out on the pitch,
00:48as opposed to just in the boardroom.
00:53Now, first up, thank you to our official data providers, FopMob.
00:57You'll be seeing us using their graphs and their stats throughout this video,
01:01and you should go and download the app for your phone, because I have it, and I love it.
01:06But first up, first up, let's go look at Chelsea's recent results for some vital context.
01:11Only one win in Maresca's last seven games, and while beating Barcelona felt like a massive moment in their season,
01:18it is sandwiched between two mingers against Atlanta and Carabaug.
01:24They've also got a league-high 15 points dropped from winning positions,
01:30which, according to reports that have come out since Marexit,
01:34is a source of significant displeasure with the owners.
01:37And that's because Liverpool have dropped off a cliff this season.
01:40Man City have found their stride, but are still levels below their all-conquering best.
01:44And Arsenal have been great, but Chelsea have looked like next season's big deal for three or four seasons now.
01:53And after being genuinely really impressive in the Club World Cup this summer,
01:58this was the season they really had to have a go, and it just hasn't materialised.
02:07No!
02:10Yeah, so Man United have just sacked Ruben Amarin, which is brilliant.
02:15Today's literally my birthday, by the way.
02:18I wasn't going to mention that.
02:19Today's literally my birthday, so now I have to do a Ruben Amarin video as well as this.
02:26So yes, anyway, you're the Chelsea owners.
02:29You're looking at the league table and the results and the money you've spent and thinking,
02:33yeah, all right, this is not really where we want this club to be.
02:37But again, according to the reports that we have had since Marexit,
02:41they were going to wait to conduct a full review at the end of Mareska's first two years.
02:47Right now, they were very happy with the job he was doing and still thought there was a good chance
02:51they'd have a good season.
02:53So this situation here doesn't really have anything to do with why he's left the club.
02:59But the question you have to ask is why aren't Chelsea challenging at the very top of the Premier League?
03:05Because I think Mareska has proved in his time at the club that in individual games,
03:11if not necessarily long spells, he is one of the league's elite managers.
03:16Like, I personally get the Manchester City links.
03:19I think he manages the resources at his disposal really well.
03:22And especially in the big games, you always see examples in this team of small adaptations he has made
03:30that give Chelsea a really good chance of getting a result.
03:33Like, honestly, I was rubbing my thighs raw at their win against Liverpool.
03:37The amount of different ways they found to get in the space behind Mo Salah,
03:42how they pulled Gravenberch out of the way for Caicedo in that first goal.
03:46It's great from the players, but these things always have to start on the training ground.
03:51And I think Mareska is right up there for all this stuff.
03:55And yet, this run of form.
03:58How can a team with a manager this good that's got players like Rhys James,
04:02like Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandes, Cole Palmer, to name but a few,
04:06not be able to put the consistency together to challenge at the top of the league?
04:12How can you be the better team against Liverpool and Barcelona and Arsenal,
04:17and then not go and beat Bournemouth and Leeds and Carabaug?
04:22Well, if we look at Chelsea's best 11, right, and these are the 11 most used players this season,
04:28plus Cole Palmer, who obviously starts if he's fit.
04:32I think that's brilliant.
04:33That could beat any other team in this league on its day.
04:37But then, right, if we start to add the depth that Chelsea have in its first team,
04:42these are all the other senior players in their strongest positions,
04:46I would say you also don't even have any major drop-offs from that first 11.
04:52You're covered in case of injury.
04:54But don't get me wrong, you'd really miss Moises Caicedo, for example,
04:58if he was sidelined for a while.
04:59But if Lavia was fit and could play, or you just stick Rhys James in centre midfield,
05:05it's not like you're just going to overnight become a soft touch, is it?
05:09You lose Cole Palmer, well, you just move Enzo Fernandes further up the pitch.
05:12So there is flexibility to this squad, as well as just depth.
05:16Like, look at the 11 they used in the City game.
05:18There is no Moises Caicedo, which is a huge loss.
05:21This back four has never, ever played together.
05:24And yet, they went and snatched a point they richly deserved.
05:28And in the second half, after they brought DeLapp on,
05:31they did not look a bad bet to go and actually win the thing.
05:35Like, this is a talented, talented group of players.
05:39And yet, at the very start of the season, Enzo Mareska was very displeased
05:44with the way the club had gone about building this squad, for good reason.
05:50Chelsea have the youngest team in the Premier League by an entire year.
05:56And just go and look at that graph again.
05:58The top two oldest teams are only separated by a few months.
06:03So to have the youngest team by a year shows how extreme that actually is in this league.
06:08Four team members of the first team this season are 23 years old or younger.
06:14And while, look, don't get me wrong, they've got some players that are so good
06:17you don't even think about their age.
06:19There is still a glaring lack of top-level experience in this team,
06:26especially at centre-back.
06:28Like, Tosin is 28, but nowhere near consistent enough to be a guaranteed starter.
06:33Fafana is an excellent defender, but they really, really struggle to keep him fit.
06:38Chaliba was told he didn't have a future at the club before being hauled back from his loan.
06:43Badia Shile has never developed how they hoped he would.
06:46And Hato and Ashenpong are both incredible, very promising young players, but 19 years old.
06:53They do not have a Gabriel or a Van Dijk or a Ruben Diaz style figure.
06:59And whatever you may think about those three individuals or the seasons they're having,
07:04they are vital elements of a top-level defence because they know how to get the entire defence
07:11through difficult moments and through difficult games, even if they themselves are not playing that well.
07:19Chelsea do not have that profile anywhere.
07:22And again, don't get me wrong, you haven't got to be 29 or 30 years old to be that kind
07:26of player necessarily,
07:28but ask yourself, my friends, if all three of these gentlemen were mysteriously abducted by aliens,
07:35would any of the names on this list be getting talked about as likely replacements for them?
07:42No, they would not. They all have their qualities, they're all good players in their own rights,
07:46but none of them are that sort of player at that sort of level.
07:51And if you want to know why that's important, look at so many of the goals they've conceded this season.
07:56Like the opener against Bournemouth, they have so many players just standing around waiting for the referee to rule it
08:03out.
08:04There is nobody there taking charge, driving standards, making sure they don't concede.
08:10Even the equaliser, like Garnaccio can take the hump here as much as he likes,
08:13but he ball watches and they leave the back post entirely free.
08:17Like, honestly, go and look at that again.
08:19All their defenders get caught trying and failing to win that first contact.
08:25Nobody there realises they're exposed, takes responsibility, does a bit of reorganisation on the pitch,
08:31and again, they give away more points from a winning position.
08:36And just for all this team is capable of doing brilliant things right the way across the pitch,
08:41I personally find them to be a side who repeatedly undo a lot of their good work in their planning
08:48and organisation
08:49with a lack of leadership off the ball.
08:53They have really good defenders, but they don't have anybody who will drag them through difficult moments,
08:59and that is the difference between them and the really top teams.
09:04But actually, no, they do have that player, and here is where we get to what has ultimately led to
09:12Enzo Mareska leaving Chelsea.
09:14It's really clear that the club see Levi Colwell as exactly that sort of player.
09:21He is experienced beyond his years, he is commanding at the back, he is a natural leader,
09:27and at still only 22, the club believe his ceiling is right up there with the best centre-backs in
09:34the world.
09:34So at the very start of the season, you've got that guaranteed starter leadership figure in defence,
09:39but then, in the summer, he ruptures his ACL and he's out for the entire season.
09:45And the reports, both back then and since his departure, have said that Mareska was pretty insistent,
09:51the club go and replace him with a senior, experienced centre-back.
09:55But the club, while they do consult him on transfers, see his job as being to manage what he's given,
10:01and they saw this as an opportunity to better develop Josh Ashenpong.
10:06And I mean, you look, just for example, at him versus Man City, he was amazing.
10:11I thought he was brilliant in that match.
10:12He was tucking inside to make a back three, then being aggressive, pushing up at full-back.
10:17There's clearly a massively talented player in there, but again, at 19 years old,
10:23he is not going to be the man to lead your defence through an entire season.
10:28So if I'm Enzo Mareska in that situation, then, yeah, all right, I'd probably just accept that decision.
10:35You know what you signed up for when you took the job.
10:38It's not going to come as a massive shock, is it?
10:41But, at the same time, when the questions then start getting asked about, like,
10:46oh, how come you're not putting these consistent runs together?
10:49Why aren't you challenging further up the league?
10:51I would just point to decisions like that as the reason why.
10:56These teams above us all have something that we do not,
11:00and when you ask the club to go out and get that, you were told no.
11:05So what do they expect?
11:07But while this is a major part of what you're seeing in the games and a constant source of frustration
11:12for both the board and the fans,
11:14it's not apparently the thing that has caused the rift here.
11:18That apparently has to do with elements of player selection and other members of the Chelsea set-up having a
11:26degree of power in that regard.
11:28First off, Chelsea's medical team will make firm recommendations over the number of minutes that every player is capable of
11:35playing in every single match,
11:38and it is expected that Maresca will always abide by that advice.
11:44It's why you've seen Rhys James so regularly rotated across multiple competitions this season,
11:49and why, despite being fit all season, hooray, and arguably Chelsea's best player,
11:54he'd only started 13 of the 19 league games prior to Maresca leaving.
12:00Interestingly, two of the more recent times he was rotated out,
12:03they dropped points against Bournemouth and got beat off Leeds.
12:08And you can see that Maresca sort of disagreed with the medical assessment over James to an extent,
12:13as he gave him a full 90 minutes three times in a week in December.
12:19This, we're told, caused a bit of friction internally because it was expressly against the recommendation of the medical team,
12:27and he's not supposed to do that.
12:29Likewise, and this is an absolutely belter line in the piece about it on The Athletic,
12:35he got you-don't-know-what-you're-doing chants for taking Cole Palmer off after an hour against Fulham,
12:42despite that being the advice of the medical team.
12:46So it was their idea, but he got all the shit for it.
12:49Just think, right, about all the times in your life at work when you've got it in the neck
12:54for something that was someone else's fault, right?
12:58Except now, it's not some tedious middle management type telling you off.
13:02It is thousands of Cockneys who've been on the Madri Exceptionale all day calling you a dipshit.
13:09You'd be fizzing, wouldn't you?
13:11So Mareska was understandably displeased with how things were going,
13:16like the lack of experience at the back, the way he had to defer to the medical team over minutes,
13:21the way he had to defer to the recruitment team over squad building.
13:24The club is not where everybody thinks it should be, and a lot of that is out of his control.
13:30He will have felt, rightly or wrongly, that his hands were slightly tied in this job,
13:36which isn't the end of the world, but it does mean that when the criticism starts coming in,
13:40you can't even really fight your own corner without then throwing the owners, your bosses, under the bus.
13:48And you combine that with all the noise around the Manchester City job,
13:52the fact he's in the frame for that, there's other clubs apparently sniffing around him,
13:55and you will start to think, you know what, I don't need the hassle here.
14:01And if you're in that sort of frame of mind, then the club will be like, well, there's no point
14:05backing you and supporting you,
14:07because you're going to be off pretty soon anyway.
14:09So, if you're looking for a personal take on this, right, I think Enzo Mareska has at his disposal a
14:15brilliantly talented squad.
14:18But as we all know, you can't just turn up, play really well and dazzle teams every single week.
14:24You need a bit of arsehole spread around here if you're going to grind out the really tough results.
14:30And without that, which is something Mareska wanted, remember, you're never going to reliably finish above an Arsenal or a
14:37Man City or even a Liverpool.
14:39And the thing is, Chelsea could beat any of those teams in 90 minutes, especially if they've got Enzo Mareska
14:46in the dugout.
14:47But the difference is that those teams are far more likely to turn up at the Vitality or at Ellen
14:52Road, play terribly, but win 1-0.
14:56Like, they go 1-0 up against Aston Villa, they survive the onslaught, they'll grind that out.
15:02Chelsea don't have enough of those results in them across the season.
15:06So, yeah, I think Mareska's actually done a pretty good job getting Chelsea to where they are and having two
15:11trophies in his back pocket at the same time.
15:14But given that some of his football can be a little bit tedious at times, they do struggle in games
15:20you feel they should win,
15:22and I can understand why both the owners and a section of the fan base thinks,
15:27do you know what, some of these problems kind of are your fault.
15:32However, if Chelsea think they can just go and get another manager who will develop these players
15:37so they automatically just go to the next level, then best of luck to whoever that might be.
15:46If you can do more with a team this young without drastically changing the recruitment policy,
15:52you are one of the best managers in the world.
15:56So, have fun.
15:57Anyway, yes, I was going to do a load of waffle at the end of this video because happy New
16:01Year and happy birthday me and all of that,
16:03but I can't do that now, can I, because I've got to go do the Man United video and the
16:08Liam Rossini video.
16:09What a week I'm going to have.
16:10Thank you very much for watching.
16:11Please do subscribe to us here at the Adam Cleary Football Channel.
16:14It's 200K, it's so close.
16:15We would love to get that really soon.
16:17And, of course, thanks to our official data providers, ThoughtMob.
16:20The app is genuinely, earnestly, I use it in real life, not just for any of this.
16:26It's dead good.
16:26You should go and download that.
16:28Chelsea fans, thoughts, feelings?
16:30Christ, let us know what you think about this in the comments down below.
16:33You can get me across all the social medias.
16:35I think I've already said that.
16:37Yeah, time to watch some Wisecout clips on Darren Fletcher's under-21s.
16:45Weird day.
16:46Goodbye.
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