With the international break coming to an end, it’s a great chance for the Premier League’s website to look at the general trends of this season, and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
Their section on Chelsea was on point, and lines up with the feelings of a lot of fans at the moment:
“We don’t yet know what to make of Enzo Maresca’s start as Chelsea head coach, even though he has guided the team to fourth in the table with 14 points from seven fixtures,” Alex Keble wrote.
“Maresca was supposed to bring football played like chess – ultra-structured and slow paced – but instead Chelsea have been mayhem.”
It’s a very interesting point, and one that fans have been making more and more since it’s become clear that this isn’t a one off, this is the real direction of the team at the moment. The possession football we were expecting (and in many cases, dreading) hasn’t materialised. Instead we’re getting very similar football to what we got last season under Mauricio Pochettino – just with fewer injuries and more goals.
Maresca’s chaos ball faces biggest tests yet
Has Maresca given up on his original plan because it was too hard to implement while also delivering results? Are we still going to head in that direction ultimately? Was this a plan at all, or have these chaotic games actually just been the result of us playing bad teams and not having yet developed much structure?
We will certainly find out a lot more over the next month, as we hit our much awaited stretch of really tough fixtures. Will the mayhem-ball carry us through? Or will it be found out and see us torn apart as we face teams better able to take advantages of the spaces we’re leaving?
It’s going to be a fascinating period, and we will know a lot more about “what to make of Enzo Maresca’s start” when the dust has setted.
