07 May 2026 08:59:22
I picked this up on Sky this morning and thought it was worth a share.
Sky Sports News chief reporter says club made a mistake sacking Enzo Maresca and the players have looked lost without him; Chelsea must sign experienced leaders and change their transfer policy this summer. After a damaging defeat to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Monday, Jamie Carragher described Chelsea as 'a broken club'. Here, Sky Sports News' chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol breaks down the issues at Stamford Bridge this season - and how they fix them.
Chelsea have been all at sea since Enzo Maresco was allowed to leave the club on New Year's Eve. They took a massive risk by appointing Liam Rosenior, somebody who had no experience of managing in the Premier League, as their head coach. That didn't work out.
Then they took another big risk in appointing Calum McFarlane as the interim head coach. Again, somebody who has very limited experience of managing, let alone managing in the Premier League. Things have been so bad at Chelsea since the start of February that they are bottom of the Premier League form table - they have got fewer points in that time than Tottenham.
Chelsea have won two and drawn two in the Premier League in that time. The only sides they have beaten in the Premier League since the start of February have been against releagted Wolves and Aston Villa. In total, Chelsea have lost 13 times in the Premier League this season, which is more than newly-promoted Leeds and Sunderland.
You can say it's the players' fault, but watching Chelsea week in, week out, it looks like these players have not come to terms with the fact that Maresca has left the club. In total, Chelsea have lost 13 times in the Premier League this season, which is more than newly-promoted Leeds and Sunderland.
Maresca was somebody who got them into the Champions League, won two trophies in his first season, but behind the scenes, things went wrong.
There were problems with personal relationships with other people at the club, lots of people falling out and it got so bad that he walked out.
I think Chelsea were quite glad to see the back of him, but looking back now, it was a big mistake to let him go because he was definitely onto something and the players believed in him.
It's a massive ask for these players, with the head coach they've got in place at the moment, to beat Manchester City and Pep Guardiola [in the FA Cup final]. Stranger things have happened but this Chelsea side are at rock bottom.
I think one of the problems has been that they won the Club World Cup. Because of that, I think they thought 'we've arrived. Everything we've done, our policies have been vindicated. We've proved everybody wrong'. They then carried on down that same road.
When it came to Maresca, I think they felt that he was just a head coach - 'if he wants to go, let him go. If he thinks he's going to get the Man City job, fine.
'He can go and get the Man City job in the summer if it becomes available. We have got a great structure in place. We'll just get another head coach in. '
Unfortunately, they picked the wrong person to take over. I don't think it's a situation that cannot be turned around if you've got the right person as the manager.
I still think big name managers will want to manage Chelsea and they can attract the kind of manager that they need this summer.
[Andoni] Iraola is a possibility, but there's lots of other clubs after him. Xabi Alonso would be a great fit. Somebody like Cesc Fabregas has been talked about a lot, but it'd be very hard to get him out of Como. That would be another risk.
Chelsea need to get somebody with Premier League experience, somebody who can dominate this dressing room, somebody who can also say to the sporting directors and the owners at Chelsea 'I'm in charge'.
And especially if you bought some leaders this summer, some experienced players. Why not bring in someone like Jordan Henderson as a player/coach? He has outstanding leadership qualities. He doesn't have to play every week but the presence of someone with his standards and work ethic, on and off the pitch, would change the dynamic behind the scenesChelsea have still got a very good squad. They've got some world-class players, but they need a new manager and they need some leaders on the pitch.
I think their [transfer] strategy [of signing young players on long-term deals] will change this summer, they will tweak it and sign some more experienced players this summer.
07 May 2026 10:06:40
RPD, thanks for sharing.
Mistakes have been made and lessons have to be learned. The next manager appointed has to be spot on.
I personally have little faith in them making me happy with their choice of manager, but that's been the case for a very long time now.
07 May 2026 10:45:21
Yes, hopefully these owners suddenly learn lessons. 6th time lucky ... can repeat the same mistakes forever.
07 May 2026 10:52:04
I'm with you on the next manager appointment Tom, as I've said 1000 times before, pushing Maresca out was a huge mistake and it really has bitten us hard.
07 May 2026 13:43:37
Greenaway
We don't keep unhappy players, therefore it goes to say we are not going to keep an unhappy coach either.
07 May 2026 19:01:08
Bill, if we don't keep unhappy players, we are in for a big rebuild in the summer.