Chelsea’s 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge on October 4, against the reigning Premier League champions Liverpool, was a massive boost for the club. Before that, the Blues had gone winless in their last three league games. A tough 2-2 draw to Brentford, where the Blues conceded a late equaliser, compounded by two bad losses to Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion.
In both of those losses, Chelsea were down to ten men because of silly plays that led to red cards. Enzo Maresca faced a lot of criticism from the media and fans. While some of it was warranted, more blame should be attributed to the board of directors, which makes these signings and assembles the team.
If you want to assign blame to Maresca, you can criticise him for how he managed those games against Manchester United and Brighton, where he took off almost all the attacking players against Man Utd, which didn’t work. The team’s lack of discipline has resulted in red cards in three of four games, but these problems precede the Italian.
This was a problem with Mauricio Pochettino, and one thing you can attribute it to is that a team full of youngsters is more likely to lack discipline. Currently, Chelsea are second in the league with 21 points from yellow and red cards. Last season, they were second with 106 points from yellow and red cards, and the year prior to that, they broke a record with 107 yellow cards in a season.
Blame the Board, not Enzo Maresca, for Chelsea’s struggles
Having a team full of youngsters is down to the co-sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart. This past summer was a chance for these two to build on the great season Chelsea had last year. Finishing fourth in the Premier League, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in three years, winning the Conference League and the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup.
They had a chance to really build on that success and sign some high-profile, established players. Instead, they opted for the same route, signing young, inexperienced players to long-term contracts. Guys like 19-year-old Jorrel Hato, 20-year-old Jamie Gittens, 22-year-old Liam Delap, 21-year-old Alejandro Garnacho and 24-year-old Joao Pedro.
Over the summer, Chelsea had a chance to sign an elite goalkeeper for a bargain transfer fee when they were interested in AC Milan’s Mike Maignan. But they did not push hard enough.
Considering how freely Chelsea have spent money, for them not to want to pay that little for a premier goalkeeper is unacceptable. Maignan has the pedigree, experience, and prowess that would be perfect for the Blues. At 30 years old, he would be the club's oldest senior player, but that’s not a bad thing. They are in dire need of an experienced veteran player who has experience of big games.
They had another keeper in Djordje Petrovic, who Maresca didn’t favour, so he went on loan to play at the Ligue 1 club Strasbourg, where he was their player of the season. Bournemouth then signed him, and they are currently fourth in the Premier League, albeit seven games into the season.
Petrovicc has a 70.4% save percentage facing 27 shots on target, while Sanchez has a 63.2% save percentage facing 19 shots on target. So far in Serie A, the French international Maignan has a save percentage of 86.7% and a 0.65 goals against per 90 minutes. But somehow the club did not push for him despite the fact that he’d be a massive improvement.
It’s still very possible for Chelsea to have a successful season, but if the sporting directors don’t adapt, many of the same issues will persist, and it won’t matter who the manager is. The Blues have the foundation to field a very strong team for years to come. But doubling down on signing youngsters will only lead to more of the same.
A team that is pretty good and shows flashes of being great, but doesn’t have enough. While Enzo Maresca hasn’t been perfect this season, he has done as good a job as he can with the litany of injuries and roster limitations he has to deal with. As for the club, at some point, this project has to move to focusing on the present rather than always waiting for the future.