# Maresca may be an easy target but sedate Chelsea need to up the tempo

While the sense of alienation at Stamford Bridge runs deep, formulaic football is not helping the manager’s cause.

## Analysis

  
Enzo Maresca is yet to win hearts and minds at Chelsea. Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock

## Chelsea

Enzo Fernández holds up his hands  


Enzo Fernández was a target for fans’ frustrations at the weekend.  
Photograph: Paul Phelan/ProSports/Shutterstock

There are similarities with Maurizio Sarri’s season at Chelsea six years ago. The Italian  and finished third in the Premier League but matchgoing fans never warmed to him. There were regular chants against Sarriball, which come to mind now Maresca is facing accusations that his approach comes at the cost of imagination and expression.

Cole Palmer, a maverick at his best when playing off the cuff, has gone nine games without a goal before the second leg of the Europa Conference League tie against FC Copenhagen on Thursday night. The mood was restless  on Sunday. There were boos when Enzo Fernández passed backwards at 0-0. It was not lost on Maresca. He gestured angrily for fans to be more supportive when Marc Cucurella scored the winner a few minutes later.

The disconnect is clear. Maresca was happy to talk later about his interaction with the crowd. He is not going to change. He pointed to the complexities of penetrating Leicester’s back five and called for fans to play their part in helping their young side to qualify for the Champions League. “When a team creates the amount of chances we create today, you have to be happy,” Maresca said. “If you think that football is just a PlayStation and you win easy, no way.”

As for Fernández’s passing? “The good thing is that Fernández knows that if he doesn’t play back, I will change him,” said Maresca, whose comments were posted on social media and used as evidence that he is turning his players into robots without individual freedom.



Cole Palmer, who was on a roll earlier in the season, has struggled amid Chelsea’s recent travails. Photograph: Dave Shopland/AP

There are times when it seems like Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital may have misjudged Chelsea’s history when they turned to Maresca. Chelsea’s fans have never really taken to process-driven managers. They disliked Graham Potter and Sarri; they loved the ruthlessness of Thomas Tuchel, José Mourinho and Antonio Conte.

The irony is that, although Tuchel, Mourinho and Conte produced occasional spells of devastating attacking football, they are not exactly tactical romantics. The difference is that they were proven winners. Trophies gave Mourinho leeway to criticise the atmosphere at home games.

That may make Chelsea fans seem entitled. Their reaction to a few barren years? Protest against the owners and moan during games. But other dynamics are at play. This is not just about results. Many fans say they feel no connection with the club and squad. They worry about the Americanisation of the ground. The pre-match DJ goes down badly and members struggle to get tickets. It is not a good look for Boehly to be a co-owner of Vivid Seats, a website selling tickets to the club’s games and other Premier League matches to foreign tourists.

There is a lack of trust. It subsides when results pick up but surfaces whenever there is a slump. Maresca is more a symptom than the cause of the unrest. Quality football provides a distraction from wider problems. The people who put Maresca in charge will have questions to answer if he fails but there is nothing easier to change than the manager. Maresca has to find a way to silence his critics and prove that his football can make some noise.
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