Official: Enzo MARESCA announced as new Chelsea Head Coach

[Sleeping Dave]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

 

Academy players U21 have unlimited loan spots.

 

Yes, my bad. You are of course absolutely right. 

[paulw66]

22 minutes ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Yes, my bad. You are of course absolutely right. 

We agree on something! 

Good ol' healthy debate 🙂 

[Bob Singleton]

 

[Thiago97]

8 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

But what chance have we given him to be successful? One bad loan to Germany and then we flogged him to Burnley. Now we give up? It's money we spend on futile game slike this that should be used to actually improve the squad. Also, what does this do to the culture of the club? 

It lacks dignity and class. We treat the players like they are products we can sell/buy/loan however we want. Where is the humanity in this? The club is losing it's soul and very fast I might add. I'm angry because I genuinely think these clowns are the worst that could have happened to us as a club. The sooner they leave the better for all of us. 

Hard not to agree with this. I don’t think the strategy is completely terrible, but it’s terrible when done on this scale of acquisition gambles.

If we had took 5-6 punts and gave them a platform to play, then it’s maybe got some merit. I’ve not looked at the numbers, but we must be at close to 20 player punts now in 2 years, with no sign of it slowing down either. Many of them are not playing, nor yet excelling, at a level that is high enough to justify breaking even on what they cost.

I’ve been away from here for most of the summer, and that will most likely continue through the season…..cos I simply don’t feel that same connection to the club and many of the players right now. That’s purely down to the route the owners have taken the club down. 

 

[chara]

Of course a lot of questions about the new coach..in some quarters much made of his Championship background and little front man experience,

Some here with long memories will recall how hard it is to get promotion from the Championship and luck has little bearing unless preceded with hard work and application.

Just a question...IF....Chelsea had gone down under GP,,not so far fetched as one would want..and The Poch appointed, how do you all think he would have done in terms of promotion?

[xceleryx]

12 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Sorry but this argument is laughable. Football inflation? That is not only applicable to overpriced foreign imports, it is just as true for the players you develop in your own academy. So I'm not buying that ragument for a second. 

So still, we've paid +€150m for Kellyman, Veiga, Wiley, Guiu, Washington, Angelo, Fofana, Slonina, Chukwuemeka, Casadei, Santos. If you think we will be able to recoup that money within their contract length with us you're delusional. Add salary cost, add money to agents. Add the opportunity cost as well when someone like Angelo takes up a loan spot from someone from the academy. These guys will need to sell at an average fee of €25m for us to go past break-even. If you think we will be successfull with that I think you could believe anything. 

On top of this, take someone like Lavia, 30 senior apps and we pay £60m for him. Ugochukwu is what, £25m? Fofana £80m? So not only do we spend ridiculous money on a strategy that is bound to fail, we also do silly things when it comes to our recruitment for the senior squad. 

We also can't hire managers. We can't get the clubs football people to know what they are doing. We piss off the fans. We do everything we can to get all that was good with Chelsea to leave the club (Fraser/Bath) and we refuse to use the academy most likely because it was built by Roman. I can honestly say that the current ownership is doing everything wrong here. Comfortably the worst owners of any major european club. Comfortably. 

What's being overlooked here though is that it's not necessarily about their overall value generating bottom line profits, but also how it creates flexibility from an amortisation perspective on the books.

Not going to say we've not overpaid for certain players, or that we've necessarily spent all the money we have wisely, or even that our general strategy is without negatives, but I'm also able to acknowledge what is trying to be put in place. Like with a lot of things in life instant gratification isn't always going to be had, sometimes you do need to have patience and time to see the benefits of the groundwork that's put in. 

Not going to get into a back and forth over who the best and worst owners are, or pretend Roman didn't have his short falls as a owner either that severely hindered us at times, it's all subjective at the end of the day. We're quite clearly in two different postcodes when it comes to everything going on, so I'll just leave it at that, which is likely for the best.

[Mark Kelly]

11 hours ago, chara said:

Of course a lot of questions about the new coach..in some quarters much made of his Championship background and little front man experience,

Some here with long memories will recall how hard it is to get promotion from the Championship and luck has little bearing unless preceded with hard work and application.

Just a question...IF....Chelsea had gone down under GP,,not so far fetched as one would want..and The Poch appointed, how do you all think he would have done in terms of promotion?

I think 90% of the players would have asked to leave

[Sciatika]

11 hours ago, chara said:

Just a question...IF....Chelsea had gone down under GP,,not so far fetched as one would want..and The Poch appointed, how do you all think he would have done in terms of promotion?

Given the injury situation and just how competitive/physical the Championship is, I have doubts anyone would have got us up (especially if players chose to leave).

[Sleeping Dave]

It’s really early days so I will try not embarrass myself here. 

But I’m worried. Not necessarily because we have drawn to Wrexham and lost big to Celtic. I’m worried because when are we supposed to have time to train in the US? Between games and long travelling it seems to me most of the tour will be spent on the road or playing a game. Call me crazy, but I think this team needed a calm and quiet pre-season with plenty of time working on this new system. 

My biggest fear is that we will start the new season with a few losses. This team has the spine of a jellyfish and I’m not sure Maresca will be able to survive a few losses early on. The players egos won’t survive that and the blame will be put on him, not on them. 

Still early days but I’m not feeling very confident. 

[My Blood Is Blue]

8 minutes ago, Sleeping Dave said:

It’s really early days so I will try not embarrass myself here. 

But I’m worried. Not necessarily because we have drawn to Wrexham and lost big to Celtic. I’m worried because when are we supposed to have time to train in the US? Between games and long travelling it seems to me most of the tour will be spent on the road or playing a game. Call me crazy, but I think this team needed a calm and quiet pre-season with plenty of time working on this new system. 

My biggest fear is that we will start the new season with a few losses. This team has the spine of a jellyfish and I’m not sure Maresca will be able to survive a few losses early on. The players egos won’t survive that and the blame will be put on him, not on them. 

Still early days but I’m not feeling very confident. 

I just posted a similar thing in the Celtic match topic. This pre-season sums up how much this sport has become a business first and sport second. This summer is seen as a way for the club to make money, not prepare the team in the best way possible for the season ahead.

If it was planned based around the football itself and preparation then we’d stay back at Cobham, give the coach more time with the players, then play some matches much closer to home.

[Michael Tucker]

11 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

If it was planned based around the football itself and preparation then we’d stay back at Cobham, give the coach more time with the players, then play some matches much closer to home.

In other words, the way we used to do it, back in the old old days!

[My Blood Is Blue]

19 minutes ago, Michael Tucker said:

In other words, the way we used to do it, back in the old old days!

Yeah! To be fair, don’t even need to stay at Cobham, but somewhere close by that doesn’t require a 10 hour flight for the squad to get too and from and doesn’t require flights between each match.

[Bison]

3 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

It’s really early days so I will try not embarrass myself here. 

But I’m worried. Not necessarily because we have drawn to Wrexham and lost big to Celtic. I’m worried because when are we supposed to have time to train in the US? Between games and long travelling it seems to me most of the tour will be spent on the road or playing a game. Call me crazy, but I think this team needed a calm and quiet pre-season with plenty of time working on this new system. 

My biggest fear is that we will start the new season with a few losses. This team has the spine of a jellyfish and I’m not sure Maresca will be able to survive a few losses early on. The players egos won’t survive that and the blame will be put on him, not on them. 

Still early days but I’m not feeling very confident. 

The stadiums are literally half empty as well so I'm not sure what the purpose of these visits are. They've either priced the fans out or there simply isn't an appetite for a Chelsea team without any stars and a Championship manager. 

[Mark Kelly]

6 minutes ago, Bison said:

The stadiums are literally half empty as well so I'm not sure what the purpose of these visits are. They've either priced the fans out or there simply isn't an appetite for a Chelsea team without any stars and a Championship manager. 

You'd expect there to be an appetite for Celtic though 

[thevelourfog]

4 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

It’s really early days so I will try not embarrass myself here. 

But I’m worried. Not necessarily because we have drawn to Wrexham and lost big to Celtic. I’m worried because when are we supposed to have time to train in the US? Between games and long travelling it seems to me most of the tour will be spent on the road or playing a game. Call me crazy, but I think this team needed a calm and quiet pre-season with plenty of time working on this new system. 

My biggest fear is that we will start the new season with a few losses. This team has the spine of a jellyfish and I’m not sure Maresca will be able to survive a few losses early on. The players egos won’t survive that and the blame will be put on him, not on them. 

Still early days but I’m not feeling very confident. 

The first month at very least is going to be a horror show. The Euro final will have only been 4 weeks before our first match. Basically no prep time in "possession football" for our key starting players, all of whom have been at international competitions. And this for a style of football that takes time and involves a painful teething period even with top class players and a stable, non-basketcase club.

It will be ugly very quickly, and then these owners don't have what it takes to deal with that.

[Sleeping Dave]

1 hour ago, thevelourfog said:

The first month at very least is going to be a horror show. The Euro final will have only been 4 weeks before our first match. Basically no prep time in "possession football" for our key starting players, all of whom have been at international competitions. And this for a style of football that takes time and involves a painful teething period even with top class players and a stable, non-basketcase club.

It will be ugly very quickly, and then these owners don't have what it takes to deal with that.

Yeah, that’s my worry mate. They haven’t proven to be the most patient owners out there to begin with. But what really scares the living hell out of me is the apparent lack of ability to plan. Be it player acquisitions, loans, sales or hiring managers. If we do endure a tough start I’m not sure we have what it takes to turn it around. 

When it rains, it pours. How bad can it get? Personally I think it can get very, very ugly. Hopefully I’m just being paranoid and the team starts to lit it up. 

[ROTG]

I going more down the line of Mascara is not a very good coach, and probably a lower level than the nobody coach TB hired to replace TT 

[Mark Kelly]

37 minutes ago, ROTG said:

I going more down the line of Mascara is not a very good coach, and probably a lower level than the nobody coach TB hired to replace TT 

Well, you would, wouldn't you? 😜

[Chelsea_Matt]

2 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Yeah, that’s my worry mate. They haven’t proven to be the most patient owners out there to begin with. But what really scares the living hell out of me is the apparent lack of ability to plan. Be it player acquisitions, loans, sales or hiring managers. If we do endure a tough start I’m not sure we have what it takes to turn it around. 

When it rains, it pours. How bad can it get? Personally I think it can get very, very ugly. Hopefully I’m just being paranoid and the team starts to lit it up. 

He has a five-year contract, my slumbering friend. Personally I’m not too worried about pre-season. Look how good we looked under Poch at that stage. IMO we won’t have an idea about how it’s going to shake out with Maresca until Christmas.

I personally think Lawrence, Winstanley, Todd’n’Eggy and everyone else there aren’t fit to judge a pie contest but unlike others here who’ve written Maresca off before the season’s even started, I’m happy to give him  a fair chance. 

🎄 ✍️💀🤪

[Bison]

2 hours ago, ROTG said:

I going more down the line of Mascara is not a very good coach, and probably a lower level than the nobody coach TB hired to replace TT 

I think our season will be a lot like Kompany's Burnley last seaon. 

A manager influenced by Guardiola that won promotion easily from the Championship struggling to adapt, refusing to change his approach in order to cope with the demands of Premier League football.

[Rob B]

7 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I just posted a similar thing in the Celtic match topic. This pre-season sums up how much this sport has become a business first and sport second. This summer is seen as a way for the club to make money, not prepare the team in the best way possible for the season ahead.

If it was planned based around the football itself and preparation then we’d stay back at Cobham, give the coach more time with the players, then play some matches much closer to home.

 

3 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

The first month at very least is going to be a horror show. The Euro final will have only been 4 weeks before our first match. Basically no prep time in "possession football" for our key starting players, all of whom have been at international competitions. And this for a style of football that takes time and involves a painful teething period even with top class players and a stable, non-basketcase club.

It will be ugly very quickly, and then these owners don't have what it takes to deal with that.

I suspect I’m massively going against the grain here but I think both posts are giving too much leeway to both the coaching and the playing staff.

Yes we’ve got some key players still on their holidays like most clubs have (actually suspect we have comparatively less than our rivals and years gone by) and I appreciate that travelling to the USA will have some impact on conditioning, but as a squad we returned to training on the 5th July which was over 3 weeks ago.   Our first game is 18 August which in total gives 6 weeks and a few days to get the players fit and playing to a particular style.  (Of these six weeks only 2 weeks are spent in America and most of the internal flights are less than a few hours long and beyond luxury) 

Which begs the question, what are we doing in those 6 weeks?  As a new Manager surely there are methods to get your ideas across in ways that aren’t counter-productive from a physical perspective or can work around a certain schedule?  I realise there will be an element of double training sessions at points to get them fit and also putting those new ideas into practices in training games etc, but I mean, surely it’s a given he is showing them videos of the two games so far, videos of us last season and his own Leicester team.  Surely he has tactical whiteboards where he can show positional play at certain game points and surely he can walk them through this on a pitch in slow motion?   None of which should be  impacted on 4 or 5 short internal flights across America in a six week period.   They are together for 24 hours a day, some of that you could do in the evening after dinner or even in the air! 

I don’t think it’s too much to ask to be seeing some basic principles of a style even at this stage.  Quite why there were huge gaps between our CB’s yesterday or why we were holding a crazily high line yet not offering any press is pretty concerning IMO.  We also seem on nullifying our best attacking side with Gusto / James by playing them as a 6. 

And we shouldn’t forget, this isn’t Vincent Kompany coming into Burnley after Sean Dyche trying to overhaul something systemic over many years.  We had the 4th highest possession in the league last season!  

[chara]

@Rob B..interesting post,,I did post a rough breakdown of the travel involved but regardless of what appears to be just a few hours internal flight every change of venue is a day of travel and with the need to rest and take care of the usual match knocks to my mind it is a far too pressuried preseason period.

The crowd size has been mentioned, Unless you live close to a venue attending a game is not just a case of negotiating the London underground etc to get to SB,

If Chelsea were playing at the Rapids ground here it would be a 100 mile round trip for me to attend the game..no big deal here but a trip and a situation faced by many fans,

To attend any game this tour it would cost me at least $1200 ,,that outlay to watch preseason experiments and a less than full strength Chelsea?..I appreciate that travelling supporters pay a lot to go to Euro games but its one thing to go to Madrid, Milan etc to watch top teams and important games but California to watch Wrexham?

I also feel that in earlier years the games over here were attractive enough to attract new fans but if you watched last night's game seeing Chelsea for the first time I doubt any feelings of budding loyalty would arise,

It is what it is but to echo other voices the point,and benefits, of preseason preparation seem to have been lost in a blanket of multi-faceted commercialism.

[thevelourfog]

1 hour ago, Rob B said:

 

I suspect I’m massively going against the grain here but I think both posts are giving too much leeway to both the coaching and the playing staff.

Yes we’ve got some key players still on their holidays like most clubs have (actually suspect we have comparatively less than our rivals and years gone by) and I appreciate that travelling to the USA will have some impact on conditioning, but as a squad we returned to training on the 5th July which was over 3 weeks ago.   Our first game is 18 August which in total gives 6 weeks and a few days to get the players fit and playing to a particular style.  (Of these six weeks only 2 weeks are spent in America and most of the internal flights are less than a few hours long and beyond luxury) 

Which begs the question, what are we doing in those 6 weeks?  As a new Manager surely there are methods to get your ideas across in ways that aren’t counter-productive from a physical perspective or can work around a certain schedule?  I realise there will be an element of double training sessions at points to get them fit and also putting those new ideas into practices in training games etc, but I mean, surely it’s a given he is showing them videos of the two games so far, videos of us last season and his own Leicester team.  Surely he has tactical whiteboards where he can show positional play at certain game points and surely he can walk them through this on a pitch in slow motion?   None of which should be  impacted on 4 or 5 short internal flights across America in a six week period.   They are together for 24 hours a day, some of that you could do in the evening after dinner or even in the air! 

I don’t think it’s too much to ask to be seeing some basic principles of a style even at this stage.  Quite why there were huge gaps between our CB’s yesterday or why we were holding a crazily high line yet not offering any press is pretty concerning IMO.  We also seem on nullifying our best attacking side with Gusto / James by playing them as a 6. 

And we shouldn’t forget, this isn’t Vincent Kompany coming into Burnley after Sean Dyche trying to overhaul something systemic over many years.  We had the 4th highest possession in the league last season!  

I think you've misunderstood me or I've communicated poorly, because much of this fits with my own thoughts. 

I suppose where I differ is that what these players are being asked to do with possession is, I think, going to feel very different to them. It isn't just about having the ball, but genuinely being comfortable with it when under pressure, being able to play through a press, moving the ball very quickly when the moment hits. It's not since Tuchel that we've had a coach actually coach the team. I do think that will take time. I just think it will take too long, well after the knives have come out for Maresca. I have no real sympathy with him on that. We aren't a club that are resilient enough to manage any kind of transition, and because of that we're going to be constantly in transition with a new start every year at least. 

Edited July 28 by thevelourfog

[Rob B]

27 minutes ago, thevelourfog said:

I think you've misunderstood me or I've communicated poorly, because much of this fits with my own thoughts. 

I suppose where I differ is that what these players are being asked to do with possession is, I think, going to feel very different to them. It isn't just about having the ball, but genuinely being comfortable with it when under pressure, being able to play through a press, moving the ball very quickly when the moment hits. It's not since Tuchel that we've had a coach actually coach the team. I do think that will take time. I just think it will take too long, well after the knives have come out for Maresca. I have no real sympathy with him on that. We aren't a club that are resilient enough to manage any kind of transition, and because of that we're going to be constantly in transition with a new start every year at least. 

Yep I think that’s fair and to be clear, I’m obviously not expecting utopia in six weeks, I realise even the most successful managers  Guardiola, Klopp, Arteta etc have all needed time to implement their methods but I am expecting some semblance of a playing style and for us to be able to do the basics!

I think it also begs the question about what the long-term plan is.  We bought the likes of Mudryk, Madueke, Jackson, Disasi who to be fair are all Poch style players - ie rely on physicality and tools, whereas what we’ll need with Maresca is technical players, with a high IQ and can play intricately and I’m not sure we have too many of those. 

[ROTG]

2 hours ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Look how good we looked under Poch at that stage.

And look how good the team looked in 2024 under poch, especially after enzo got injured.