22 Sep 2025 11:11:55
TomB has written an article entitled, Can Enzo Maresca Succeed At Chelsea FC?
22 Sep 2025 13:27:11
Tom
Good post but in answer to your question, no surprise but I think this might be jis last season with us.
22 Sep 2025 13:45:06
Bill, it may well be his last season at Chelsea because of team failure or team success. That’s the same for most managers.
I know what one I would prefer!
22 Sep 2025 13:46:44
Blimey, thanks Ed.
I hope posters enjoy it?
22 Sep 2025 16:42:29
I enjoyed your well rounded and constructed post Tom. Like all us Chelsea supporters we all hope Maresca stays for a long time as that means we will be winning trophies like last season which was so nice after the previous utter shambles under Pochetino and Potter.
22 Sep 2025 18:13:15
Greenaway, thanks for your comments. We do have posters/ fans who would like EM sacked immediately. Of course that’s there choice.
Like you, I believe the majority of fans would prefer EM to remain as our manager and continue with the progress achieved last season.
22 Sep 2025 21:53:20
Tom, all of us Chelsea fans want Maresca to do well. Things are good, we are champions of the world thanks in part to Maresca. 4 years of singing that. The youngest squad in the premier league, on the up, only agenda driven numb nuts would doubt us (and that moron, spitting scouser Jamie C who hate us)
23 Sep 2025 08:32:14
I absolutely hate Carragher, Being and Smurphy.
We all want Maresca to succeed and I was happy that he managed to prove me wrong last season.
This season, I feel he has made some terrible decisions both in tactics and in team selection both at the start and during games.
I also feel that he was let down by the club when he wanted a CH, GK and forward.
He won't play Guiu as he feels he is not ready so why on earth bring the lad back from Sunderland.
Jamie Gittens, can somebody tell me what he brings to the team.
23 Sep 2025 09:01:11
Bill, give Gittens a chance before asking that question. He is a good player and he will prove his worth to the club in seasons to come.
We are only a few games into the season and we have some saying “taxi for EM” or “he is a clown” or “he is out of his depth” or “I told you so last season. ”
Careers have to start somewhere and EM has so far exceeded my expectations. Of course, he like all managers will make mistakes and sometimes the team will be punished for those mistakes. It’s about keeping those mistakes down to a minimum.
As fans we are critical without knowing the facts. It’s impossible to please all the fans. When we lose we moan and when we win most of us are happy.
23 Sep 2025 09:48:43
. Very much enjoyed reading your well written and argued post Tom and thanks for it. For me it's a no brainer to want each and every Chelsea manager to succeed for obvious reason that it means the side must be doing well too. Of course I do find myself warming to some new managers more easily than others and there are one or two I never really warmed to - eg Rafael Benitez and AVB - though still wanted them to succeed.
Equally with some who seem nice guys -like Graham Potter - I never had much confidence they should have got the job. I will admit that this is more or less what I thought when I heard that Maresca was our new manager and it did take much of last season for me to gain considerably more confidence in him that bit high with CWC win over PSG when his tactics seemed spot on. But will naturally be under scruting again by pundits and fans alike this season though we should surely always consider the hand the manager is dealt by transfer business or lack of it plus injuries. Poch may well not have had his limitations as a manager but in both respevcts he was not helped by circumstances if especially by the record number - 14 - of first team squad injuries. If Palmer has an injury hit season and a few others too - God forbit one of them is Caicedo - we may come lower that the 6th place Poch managed plus one cup final and a semi-final.
As it is we have not had a great record of beating the top 3 teams aka LFC, AFC and City in recent seasons. and our one victory versus LFC was literally ddays after they had won the EPL and are likely to have lost just a tad of focus whereas we dseperately needed the win. Stiil I v much enjoyed or fine performance that day and would credit EM for it. Likewise we played PSG after tghey had had a more gruelling playing season than us that had seen them win the Champion's Leage having qualified form play offs after the group stage then in CWC having played and beaten Atletico, Real Madrid and Bayern before playing us and after we;d had a comparatively easier draw. The fact that they had beaten such teams and were European Champions made our victory that much sweeter and as said EM got tactics spot on but they may have arrived at the final with a little less energy and perhaps not quite as much motivation - the were alread European Champions - as we did. But yes we became World Club Champions and I celebrated deliriously as I expect we all did.
The bottom line is that EM thoroughly desrved his second season and I will hugely hope he can succeed in at least getting us Champion's League football again. I was more hopefully expectant about our chances of this before the start of ths season than for several pre-seasons past. But we haven't started that well, have suffered some key injuries, and perhaps didn't do quite enough in transfer window to ensure that we were properly covered in key positions. So if EM fails to get us ECL qualification he may or may not be fored by the club but equally if he has been plagued with injuries to key players I'd bear that in mind too.
I think EM still gets some line ups and sunstitutions and tactics wrong - but then many managers do at times - but has showed some improvement here towards last part of last season. I fervently hope he can - after a less than ideal start to our season given expectations - get us back on track with a good win against Brighton on Saturday (after surely a regulation win v Lincoln tonight) and so restore some momentum to our league campaign.
23 Sep 2025 13:41:49
JBS, thanks for your response. I share your hopes, concerns and frustrations.