Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca puts finger of blame squarely at ‘not good enough’ players

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has stuck by the style he’s bought to Stamford Bridge and claims his players aren’t capable of certain tactics – which is hampering him

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca claims the style he’s implemented is because his side “are not good enough” to play a transition-based game. The Italian claims they cannot attack quickly – because they couldn’t handle having to shift equally as fast back into defence.

Maresca is coming to the end of his first season at Stamford Bridge as he bids to deliver Champions League football. He arrived from Leicester in the summer following his success in the Championship and has attempted to put his stamp on the Premier League giants.

The 45-year-old has copped criticism at points this season but has explained that the game plan he’s utilised in west London is down to how his players struggled to shift from attack to defence.

Maresca appeared to put it on his Chelsea stars as he claimed their worst performances this term have come in high-paced games where they’ve needed get back into the defensive shape following a period of attack.

He told Sky Sports : “When you attack quick, you also have the opposition and they attack quick, which becomes a transition game. We are not good enough for a transition game. If you see our worst games of the season, they are all games where it became about transition and it is not good.”

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Maresca had Chelsea tipped as outsiders for the Premier League in December following a five-match winning run that saw them close in on Liverpool. In the months since though they’ve struggled to be consistent and could now miss out on the top five.

The Blues boss urged fans to stay with the team and was adamant that his tactics would bear fruit. He said: “I think it’s quite clear that the direction is the right one. The style is the right one. Before the Ipswich game, we were the third‑best defenders after Arsenal and Liverpool. And the third- or fourth‑best attacking. They are numbers that show that the team is doing well.”

Managers defending their styles is nothing new – in the past at Manchester United Erik ten Hag claimed the players he had at Old Trafford prevented him from replicating the possession-based game he used at Ajax. The Dutchman impressed in Amsterdam, but never threatened to get United playing the same way.

He explained: “I can’t play like Ajax because I have different players. I came here with my philosophy, based on possession, but I wanted to combine it with the DNA of Manchester United, the players and their characters. Last year, we saw what that was. We played very good football. This season, the philosophy is not different, only I want to emphasise more on going direct.”

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