Chelsea currently sit fourth in the Premier League after a very hot and cold start, with another battle for top four expected this season.
Enzo Maresca delivered on a top four finish in the 2024-25 campaign, winning the UEFA Conference League and winning the Club World Cup in the summer.
However, the summer business that followed felt more tailored towards future success than instant success, spending just under £300m on a host of 18-23 year-olds.
This also saw the Blues make £290m worth of sales, moving on players such as Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson and even someone like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, all of whom had spent time developing in Maresca’s side.
Another summer with a high volume of turnover always meant it would likely take some time for the squad to settle and gain Maresca’s trust, which paired with a lack of pre-season after the Club World Cup success, was even tougher to negate.
In this article, we’ll cover
Low block questions
One of the biggest criticisms Maresca has faced in his time as Chelsea manager is the struggles against “low blocks”, more specifically teams who set up in a back five and deploy this strategy.
This was an issue in the 2024-25 season, but the struggles have continued in the new campaign, being held to a 0-0 draw on the opening day by Crystal Palace, drawing against Brentford 2-2 and losing to Manchester United 2-1 in their opening five league matches.
Maresca himself has also admitted to preparing certain matches for teams in a back four, which has left his side changing their gameplan as the opposition decide to switch into a back five in an attempt to frustrate Chelsea.
Against these low block defensive schemes, Maresca wants his side to dominate the ball inside the opposition half, sustain pressure and create a high volume of attacking actions such as shots and crosses.
The biggest criticism of this has been the lack of support for wingers who are often isolated 1v1, who are encouraged to beat their man and make decisive actions in the final third.
Malo Gusto has been an important player for Chelsea for this reason, as he has the ability to make repeated support runs and improve conditions for the right-winger, something Marc Cucurella can also do when more advanced.
The question going forward is about finding the right balance for Maresca, using the correct blend of full-back, pocket player and winger, making sure the wide triangles have complimentary profiles on each side.
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Dealing with hostility
Another massive issue for Chelsea has been dealing with hostile environments, going to away grounds and being able to ride the storm, earning the right to play.
Against Manchester United at Old Trafford, Robert Sanchez was sent off after just five minutes following a series of mistakes leading to that point.
Leeds United away at Elland Road was another example, where Enzo Fernandez was screaming at his teammates just minutes into the game to wake up, before conceding a sixth minute goal, which saw Chelsea struggle to settle.
In their most recent game, Chelsea went 2-0 down at St James’ Park early against Newcastle, before a second-half comeback rescued a point for Maresca’s men, but the same struggle to cope with the occasion and intensity in the early stages was prevalent.
When talking about experience, many will firstly look at age, which does of course play a part when you consider the recruitment policy at Chelsea.
However, it is also about the way the squad has been built, lacking top quality box defenders who can allow you to physically compete and ride the storm in those types of games, allowing you to earn that right to play as the game goes on.
Defensive issues
The Blues have been a mixed bag defensively this season, keeping eight clean sheets in their 17 Premier League games this season, only conceding 17 goals.
While those surface level stats are good for Chelsea, their underlying metrics suggest they should have conceded around 23 goals, conceding 23.04 xG so far this season, leaving them 11th in this particular metric.
Along with a poor standard of box defending bearing fruit in recent weeks, another area where teams are taking advantage of Chelsea lately is exploiting their offside trap, especially via second phase set-pieces.
Maresca is a very man oriented defensive coach, looking to implement an aggressive man for man press, regain possession and control games.
But the purpose for Chelsea defending in this way isn’t just related to Maresca’s ideal style of play, but also as a way to protect their poor quality of box defending, by keeping the opposition as far away from goal as possible (defending high).
In recent weeks, we have seen Maresca’s side drop their intensity slightly in the press, defending a bit deeper in a 4-4-2 midblock at times, absorbing more pressure and looking to hit teams on the break.
The success of this will rely on an improvement to their box defending, but it will be interesting to see how often Maresca opts for a more passive pressing scheme, as his zonal defensive ideas currently leave a lot to be desired.
New string to Maresca’s bow
With Maresca’s choice to defend more passively in games such as Everton and Cardiff, we have seen the Blues looking to attack more directly.
It feels like Maresca has actually started to lean into Robert Sanchez’s strengths this season, both to find solutions for their box defending and even to find different offensive solutions too.
One of the first points this became clear was against Tottenham, as Maresca left multiple players forward for a long throw, clearing the space for Sanchez to come and claim the ball, while also giving him options to hit on the break.
From goal kicks, Maresca has started to look to beat the opposition’s aggressive man for man press by utilising Sanchez’s distribution to find direct passes into the frontline, looking to access the space behind the press and generate artificial transitions.
The goal against Newcastle was a perfect example of how this can be effective when defending deep and encouraging crosses, as Sanchez is able to claim and release quickly to create good chances for the team.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see how Maresca approaches different games, whether he looks to defend more passively against “weaker” opposition to create more transition opportunities, or if he finds other solutions against those dreaded low blocks.