Chelsea confirmed the sacking of Enzo Maresca a couple of days back. This is interesting, and you could even say, funny, for several reasons. As things stand, the Blues sit in 5th place in the Premier League, 15 whopping points behind the leaders, Arsenal.
Safe to say, Chelsea’s chances of making it to the summit by the end of May are negligible. However, many fans argued at the beginning of the season that the expectation was to finish in the UEFA Champions League places. Another person who somewhat pushed that narrative was Maresca himself. At several points in the season, the former Blues head coach argued with and corrected journalists who suggested that the Club World Cup champions should be competing closer to the top of the table.
When asked about Chelsea’s aim after the Arsenal draw, Maresca suggested that the plan was to “see where they were” in March, and then decide what the season objectives would be. In the Italian manager’s mind, the season objectives will only be set in March when we see “how things are”.
After finishing fourth last season and winning the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Europa Conference League, everyone knew the expectations would be higher. Everyone except Maresca, that is. The former Parma manager might have been content with another top-four finish.
Did Maresca misread Chelsea's expectations?
Any random person could’ve guessed that Chelsea were demanding a lot more than Maresca was letting on, as the club have spent north of a billion pounds since the summer of 2022. Six transfer windows where several players have come and gone since then. It makes sense that they expect the head coach to produce something better than 4th place, especially after the 2024/25 season they had.
In addition, at the start of this season, the Blues got Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Mamadou Sarr, Dario Essugo, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Estevao, Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Buonanotte. This is adding to the players the manager already had at the club at his disposal.
Some of Maresca's decision-making had been questionable as well. He had preferred to use Estevao as a substitute, despite him outperforming several forwards who have continued to start.
Many will argue that Maresca has not gotten enough out of the options he has had available. Noticeably, some of the forwards he decided to keep have not performed better than whatever fans thought Raheem Sterling was doing.
Chelsea had a lot of shaky performances last season, but Maresca deserves credit for finishing where he did. The Blues had discipline issues last season, too, gathering 99 yellow cards. This season, the club world champions have created fewer big chances per game, taken fewer shots, and have gathered just 30 points in 19 games, dropping 27. Something needed to change, and the ownership decided it was the head coach.