Enzo Maresca and Chelsea had a great start to the new season. They are currently sitting in 3rd place in the Premier League table. The Blues have managed to impress with their performances this time. They have been formidable in attack. But then, their defense still needs a lot of work. At the same time, we must note that the Blues have not managed to beat any of the big six of the PL so far. They went on to lose against Man City in the opening day at home. Then, Liverpool also managed to beat them. But we can understand that considering the two teams were on top form when they faced them. But as for Arsenal and Man Utd, they were struggling really. Even then, the Blues could only manage to get a point against them. We feel that the cause of Chelsea’s failure is Manuel Pellegrini and his tactics.
The role of Manuel Pellegrini…
Current Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca once spoke of former Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini being his inspiration behind coaching. As such, the Italian did go on to pick up a few things from his role model. But they are not necessarily effective now. Pellegrini’s defensive tactics would involve his back four trying to maintain an offside line at the edge of the penalty box instead of dropping back deep inside to mark their men. We have seen the same things happen with the Blues this time too. But their is a big problem with the approach.
Enzo Maresca and Chelsea vulnerable at the back
Pellegrini’s approach is good for trapping the opposition offside. But then quality passing and well-timed attacking runs can penetrate them easily. Nytimes made a great compilation of assessing the same. They took a look at the same tactic failing Chelsea and Enzo Maresca on numerous occasions. Even Arsenal were able to exploit the same and score the opener at the Stamford Bridge. For a player with Odegaard’s vision, it was so easy for him to pick out Martinelli who had a lot of space and was basically unmarked. If the Blues do not find a way to work around this, they will keep on conceding and would fail to win any major trophies.
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