How Enzo Maresca created a problem for himself at Chelsea with cryptic complaints | OneFootball

Maresca has put himself on collision course with Blues owners

As Maresca took his seat for his press conference at Cobham, he spent the first 30 seconds or so smiling wryly and just taking in how much busier the room was than usual. A run-of-the-mill pre-match conference before Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Cardiff had taken on added significance after his comments on Saturday.

After the weekend win over Everton, Maresca sparked confusion by answering a question about Malo Gusto by saying the previous 48 hours had been his worst at Stamford Bridge.

He said it was because he felt he and his players had not been supported. Did he mean by the fans? No. “I love the fans,” he said. He has done little to suggest he has much regard for what the media think. It seemed, then, that he was referring to the Chelsea hierarchy - the club’s owners or co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.

Enzo Maresca at the weekend called out what he called a lack of support for him and his players

AFP via Getty Images

Monday was his opportunity to put the record straight, but his decision ultimately was not to. Pressed on who had not been supporting him, on why he said what he said, on whether he regretted his words, he said very little.

“I was quite clear,” he insisted. He had certainly not been clear.

Chelsea insiders insisted on Saturday that Maresca had simply given an “emotional reaction to an emotional win”. But it felt telling that, 48 hours later, he then adopted more of a ‘no comment’ approach rather than to peddle that same line.

Asked whether he regretted the comments, he rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “Oh my god”, exasperated that this still remained the central topic of the press conference after ten minutes. But in the absence of clarity, of course those questions were going to keep coming.

It is hard not to feel as though the Chelsea head coach has thrown petrol over a fire that he, himself, lit.

Unusual enough was that his comments followed what should have been a positive occasion: the team’s first win in five games. He has left the door open to speculation over a rift with the Chelsea higher-ups and should know that history dictates there is only ever one winner when the Stamford Bridge hierarchy are challenged.

Maresca has done a good job at Chelsea. Not great; not OK; good. Last season he returned them to the Champions League and guided them to the Conference League and Club World Cup titles that were the first trophies of the Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly administration.

Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali i

PA Wire

He has been continually backed by the hierarchy, who plan to properly appraise him next summer, when he will have been in charge for two seasons. It has long been mapped out that his job is safe until then, so long as things do not head irretrievably south.

But the Italian’s unqualified comments have put a spanner in the works. They suggest he feels he ought to have been given public backing after the recent four-match winless run, or that he is growing tired of having to explain his decision-making on such a regular basis. Maresca is known to hold debriefs with the co-sporting directors after each game.

After the shock defeat to Leeds this month, he bemoaned the fact that every time his team lose, it is the squad’s comparative inexperience that is used as a stick to beat them with. But it is a fact that Chelsea have one of European football's most extreme youth-based models now, and that is not about to change under the current owners.

There have been obstacles this season. Cole Palmer and Liam Delap have barely played because of injury, and Levi Colwill’s ruptured anterior cruciate ligament has ruled him out for most of the season. That Chelsea still sit fourth is impressive, and a credit to Maresca and his ability to adapt.

But the chief condition for him keeping his job beyond the summer is for progress on the pitch to be visible. This, and rather more base-level stuff like being broadly easy to work alongside.

Saturday’s comments and Monday’s refusal to clarify or retract them have stirred the pot needlessly. You’re left scratching your head over who this has served. And over how it all ends.