Twenty minutes of chaos prove that the same issues still plague Chelsea and Enzo Maresca | OneFootball

Another week, another match, another result, but Enzo Maresca is no closer to solving the great Chelsea enigma. One moment, the Blues are champions of the world; the next, they effectively fall out of the race to be champions of England.

Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Manchester United was the latest episode in what has become the Chelsea soap opera, with 20 minutes of madness proving that old issues of temperament, experience and personnel remain pertinent at Stamford Bridge.

While off-pitch issues remain a constant, the actual matches have returned as the main issue under the microscope at Chelsea this week, with the last-gasp draw at Brentford followed by a humbling result against Bayern Munich and this potentially damaging loss to United.

Football is so much more than just the 90 minutes on the pitch, but at Stamford Bridge results are a particularly pertinent issue simply because it is very difficult to see what exactly the club is trying to do.

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Robert Sanchez's red card was the catalyst for a sobering evening for Chelsea and Enzo Maresca (Getty Images)

Like their struggling opponents on Saturday, the Blues remain an enigma, though a more confusing one than United. This is a team that possesses plenty of talent and a promising manager in Maresca, with a superb performance in the Club World Cup final dismantling Europe’s best side on the way to becoming world champions. So how on Earth do they find themselves seven points behind the Premier League leaders after just five matches?

It must be said that simple bad luck and fatigue play a part, with the unfortunate injury to Cole Palmer illustrating the side-effects of the Club World Cup campaign and an extended season that left the Blues with just a couple of weeks of pre-season training.

However, that doesn’t do enough to explain why Chelsea look capable of challenging for a title one week before completely falling apart the next. Once again, despite hundreds of millions more spent, the problems have their roots in squad-building issues.

The mixed performance level and temperament issues are mirrored in their squad, with every young player and raw talent likely to oscillate between superb showings and below-par performances. The problem is that when every player in your squad is a young talent, this natural flow is far more difficult to balance.

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Sanchez's early error was the latest in a long list of blunders from the Spaniard (Getty Images)

Though a mercurial talent such as Palmer is near-impossible to replace outright, when he trudges off injured in the opening 20 minutes, the team needs to have other creative options rather than struggling to create a clear-cut chance other than from set-pieces.

In addition, the creative burden needs to be shared, aided by players who can carry the ball as well as play the killer passes. Ironically, this was the type of match that suited Nicolas Jackson, which became evident as Joao Pedro struggled in a foot race with Matthijs de Ligt.

Of course, individual errors will compound these struggles, with the club’s recent pantomime villain delivering again as Robert Sanchez was red carded within five minutes. Trevoh Chalobah was also beaten to the second ball by Benjamin Sesko in the lead up to the goal, though that leads us back to the squad-building question – why is the player who was frozen out and loaned to Crystal Palace in August 2024 now starting away at Old Trafford in September 2025?

Again, bad luck and fatigue played a part there as Levi Colwill and Liam Delap remain sidelined, but the fact remains that Chelsea don’t have an awful lot to show for £2bn.

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Cole Palmer was forced off within the opening 21 minutes due to a recurrence of a previous groin issue (Getty Images)

Maresca cannot be absolved of any blame either, with the Italian likely to realise he got it wrong in bringing off Estevao and Pedro Neto and therefore nullifying much of the counter-attacking threat that the Blues could have had after going down to 10 men.

But while the former Leicester boss remains unproven at this level, he is also dealing with a surprisingly difficult hand in certain ways. Primarily. it does not seem like the club’s strategy is geared towards instant success, and he could well pay the price for that.

For what Chelsea really, truly need is a couple of players in their prime, players aged 26 and over with the requisite experience of success at the top level. The problem is, that type of signing seems to be the antithesis of the board’s transfer strategy, with Joao Pedro by far the oldest arrival last summer at the age of just 23.

Whether the current crop suddenly clicks as they begin to reach that age is a concrete possibility – and perhaps that is what the hierarchy are waiting for – but certain events point to a confused and muddled system and strategy. None more so than the recent outings for Tyrique George, who was reportedly on the verge of a move to Fulham on deadline day, with the the 19-year-old’s entry at Old Trafford meaning that £40m summer signing Alejandro Garnacho missed out.

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Much has been made of Chelsea's recent transfer business, with Tyrique George having seen a move to Fulham collapse on the final day of the summer window (Getty Images)

It is here in which United and Chelsea share a similar problem, the issue of ownership beginning to loom over Stamford Bridge just as it has Old Trafford since 2005. From the Glazers’ well-publicised damage to United to Clearlake’s bewildering transfer strategy, these two former European Cup winners now have a new status as the Premier League’s leading soap operas.

In fact, in some ways, the bizarre match that unfolded on Saturday almost felt like it could only be produced by these two teams, born out of desperation. The hosts were desperate to prove they can turn the tide, the visitors desperate to prove they are ready to move to the next level. Neither has succeeded in proving anything yet.

In the end, the performances have helped neither club, even if the result certainly helped United. For now, Ruben Amorim’s side can only look up as they try to banish the nightmare of last season. For Chelsea and Maresca, the future is bright on paper – the question now is whether they can convert promise into sustained success.