Enzo Maresca’s Mission: Overcoming Chelsea’s Challenges

Despite splashing a billion euros on transfers last season, Chelsea finished a disappointing sixth in the EPL standings.

The London club’s results were highly erratic. For example, after a 6-0 home thrashing of Everton, Mauricio Pochettino’s team suffered a humiliating 0-5 away defeat to Arsenal. Chelsea managed to string together four consecutive wins only at the end of the season, but the quality of play remained subpar, especially in the defensive phase.

Pochettino made progress over the course of the season in developing and executing positional attacks, and the pressing in some games was impressive in its coherence. However, his team struggled to stabilize both physically and psychologically.

As a result, Chelsea’s management decided to part ways with the Argentine coach and appointed 44-year-old Italian Enzo Maresca. Maresca had previously served as an assistant to Pep Guardiola, and within one season, he managed to help Leicester City return to the English Premier League.

Name	Enzo Maresca
Date of Birth	10 February 1980 (44 y/o)
Nationality	Italian
Position as a Player	Midfielder
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10)
Current Club	Chelsea (contract until June 2029)
Playing Career	West Bromwich Albion, Juventus, Fiorentina, Sevilla, Olympiacos, Málaga, Sampdoria, Palermo, Hellas Verona
Coaching Career	Manchester City EDS, Parma, Leicester City
Coaching Honors	2020–21: Manchester City Under-23 – Premier League 2 2023–24: Leicester City – EFL Championship

Can Maresca Fix Chelsea’s Scoring Woes?

Chelsea’s management is optimistic about Enzo Maresca’s appointment, particularly because he is an advocate of Juego de Posición, a structured positional football system. Maresca’s success with Leicester City, where he won the Championship with the best attacking and defensive records, adds to their confidence. 

Although many coaches who have won the Championship with a brilliant attacking style have failed in the English Premier League in recent years, Chelsea’s management still decided to take the risk and get Maresca on board.

One of the first major issues Maresca will face at Chelsea is the need for clinical strikers. While at Leicester City, Maresca had forwards who netted 50 goals in a season. 

In stark contrast, Chelsea’s forwards have only scored 36 goals, a modest tally reflecting the team’s struggles in front of goal. In terms of the total number of goals scored, Chelsea is only in fifth place in the table despite trashing their opponents on several occasions.

Nicolas Jackson, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, and Raheem Sterling have all faced criticism for their poor finishing. Unless Enzo Maresca can acquire at least one goal-scoring forward in the new season, his positional football system may struggle to produce the desired results.

Some Chelsea fans pin their hopes on Cole Palmer, who scored 22 goals last season. However, a deeper look reveals that the young Englishman scored nine goals from penalties and only 13 from open play, with five of those goals coming against Everton and Luton Town.

This leaves Palmer with just eight goals from open play in all other matches during the 2023-24 season, which is less impressive than it appears at first glance.

To secure a place in the Champions League, Chelsea needs scoring forwards with the scoring calibre of Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, Callum Wilson, and Anthony Gordon. Whether Enzo Maresca can improve the finishing of Chelsea’s current forwards or if he will need to bring in new strikers remains a significant question.

Can Maresca Turn Chelsea’s Away Fortunes Around?

Last season, Chelsea earned only 26 points in away games, which placed them seventh in the Premier League for away performance. The situation was even worse in the 2022-23 season as the team only picked up 19 points away, finishing 11th in the table. Even Thomas Tuchel struggled in away matches and he was fired in the autumn of 2022.

In the modern Premier League, it is incredibly challenging for unstable teams like Chelsea to earn points on the road. Under previous coaches, the Blues often struggled to match the intensity of their opponents at away stadiums. 

It remains to be seen if Maresca can effectively organize the training process and squad rotation to ensure dynamic and consistent performances in away games.

Maresca Needs to Build a Structured Offensive System

Enzo Maresca’s primary strength lies in organizing positional attacks. Previous managers like Graham Potter, Frank Lampard, and Mauricio Pochettino struggled to establish a structured offensive system with coherent attacking ideas.

Maybe Chelsea fans may not appreciate the fact that under the Italian coach, the London club will take extended periods to maintain possession of the ball and seek methodical progression.

However, there is optimism that under the guidance of such a strong positional coach, Chelsea’s attacking play will rely less on the unpredictable movements of talented individuals and will instead become more organized and cohesive.

Maresca needs to select the best formation for Chelsea

In the past, Chelsea struggled to switch to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation due to a poor selection of defenders and a questionable transfer policy for center-backs. 

Consequently, the club found success with a formation using three central defenders.

At the end of the 2023-24 season, Mauricio Pochettino improved Chelsea’s attacking performance by using a hybrid 3-2-4-1/4-2-3-1 formation. This formation maximized players’ attacking potential but posed some defensive challenges.

Enzo Maresca is expected to use a 4-2-3-1/3-2-2-3 hybrid formation, which worked well for him at his previous club and suits Chelsea’s roster.

Chelsea’s Defensive Woes: A Comprehensive Analysis

The main issue that has plagued Chelsea in recent years is their poor defensive performance.

Both Graham Potter and Thomas Tuchel attempted to address the defensive issues with a 5-2-3 formation, but this setup often didn’t suit Chelsea’s attacking players. The club’s management didn’t allow the coaches enough time to work on improving the positional attacks in this formation.

On the other hand, playing in a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation requires central defenders, fullbacks, and central midfielders to be highly coordinated and excel in 1v1 situations. Currently, in my opinion, the London club lacks a single reliable top-class center back, and the talented wing-backs Ben Chilwell and Reece James are frequently injured, leading to reliance on lower-quality players.

At the same time, Moisés Caicedo is still struggling to find his footing as a defensive midfielder.

As a result, Chelsea ranked tenth in the EPL in expected goals against (xGA) and 12th in goals conceded during the 2023-24 season. Pochettino attempted to compensate for the players’ shortcomings through organized collective pressing, but this did not prevent numerous defensive failures.

Enzo Maresca’s most challenging task at his new club will be to enhance the team’s defensive quality. Judging by Leicester’s defensive performance in last season’s FA Cup match against Chelsea, where they lost 2-4, Maresca will face significant difficulties in fulfilling this task.

Conclusion

Chelsea’s management has taken a risk by appointing Enzo Maresca, a coach with no experience leading a top club or competing in a major championship. It seems the Chelsea hierarchy is banking on Enzo Maresca’s ability to instil the principles of positive, attacking football into his new team.

The Italian coach will face several significant challenges in the upcoming season. First and foremost, he needs to secure at least one prolific striker, although Maresca could potentially elevate the performance of Chelsea’s current attackers.

Additionally, Maresca must improve the team’s positional attack and find the right formation to maximize the potential of Chelsea’s young players while maintaining a strong defensive-attacking balance.

The most critical factor determining Maresca’s fate will be his ability to solve the team’s defensive issues and improve their performance in away games. I personally don’t see how Maresca will address these concerns, but I hope that the young team, which is filled with incredible talent, will showcase stability and achieve great results in the new season under his guidance..