Chelsea: New manager, same problems

With just one win in five games, Chelsea’s US Tour hasn’t quite gone to plan, conceding four goals apiece to both Celtic and Manchester City along the way. New boss Enzo Maresca blamed ‘old habits’ for their defensive misgivings after his side’s latest defeat to Real Madrid.

So, with the Premier League season just over a week away what should we expect from Chelsea?

Ayo Akinwolere is joined by Phil Hay, lead writer for The Athletic FC newsletter as well as our Chelsea writer Liam Twomey to analyse their pre-season preparations, discuss how Maresca has settled as well as touching on the ever-chaotic transfer business heading in and out of Stamford Bridge.

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:36 Chelsea’s upcoming season
00:06:59 Enzo Maresca
00:17:05 Conor Gallagher
00:21:31 New signings
00:30:54 Maresca’s style of play
00:42:43 Can Chelsea finish in the top 4?
00:46:50 Chelsea v Inter Milan
00:48:53 Final comments

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Thumbnail: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

#Chelsea #premierleague #maresca

[AdamL]

This has led me to the conclusion that any player that signs for Chelsea does not really have a deep desire to win or compete. The enormity of the squad is absolutely ridiculous.

[stevenmichaels]

The owners wanted a championship manager & now we're playing like one! 😂

[AintNoWaye]

Championship manager with a bunch of little kids. Those sporting directors are self sabotaging😂😂😂

[alexcoyg]

Maybe they need to buy more players, younger than 18 years old and give them even longer contracts maybe up to 15 years but with a +5 years option, get a 83 player squad with 500 hours of EPL experience all together 🤲

[YoshiJoshi_]

Top 4 is absolutely vital for Chelsea this season, financially. After the misses over the last two years, and huge increase in annual amortization costs.
Personally I don't see the club achieving that under Maresca. His ceiling at a coach of the club may well be higher than Pochettino's, but I think a second season under Poch would have been much more likely to result in a top 4 finish given the extra time with the squad, less taxing tactical plan and likely better injury record

[jamielovesjayne]

Chelsea fan here. We are going nowhere and fast. No way we're finishing top 4 this season and I can see us being in financial disaster in the next few years, these owners are so deluded.

[yuni]

The way Maresca diverting questions is pretty impressive then Premier League rules problems now previous manger and players habit 😂

[Bunty-ycrb]

Because Pochettino was competent and professional he had to go.

[TheWarriorEmerged]

31:12 Twomey should be sacked for saying Tuchel can't coach an attack or suggesting Tuchel's early Chelsea did not create enough. We created loads of chances that were squandered by the likes of Werner, Havertz, Mount, and Pulisic. The game against Madrid, we would have 7-0 if our team knew how to finish, against City in the final Pulisic missed an easy chance, we would have won that game 3-0 had we had proper players who could finish chances.

[zahreel]

Chelsea: Spends billions for overrated players. Also Chelsea: Shows no loyalty to academy products who overperform overrated players, sells them, blame the rules

[edwardmarsland]

Why are some so fixed on Conor, he was very high energy and clearly loved Chelsea, but he was nevertheless highly technical. That’s why he had to go.

[davidharris]

Really feel for Chelsea fans, Poch got a tune out of them towards end of season. He leaves and their back to square one.

[mthid]

Liam put it pretty well. To get into Europe, those first 10 games are important. At the current rate it looks like the players will still be learning the system for some of those games, which doesn't bode well.

[christophersalas]

Parting ways with Pochettino regardless of the situation (wether the club or manager wanted to part ways) is the worst thing to happen to them.

Pochettino could’ve worked wonders had Chelsea not been buying 3-4 players every week during the transfer window.

[VooDooMaGicMan]

Chelsea's issues are part of a bigger issue in world football. The game has transformed into an athletic, technical battle rather than any emphasis on skill and creativity.
This seems to have created a generation of relatively average footballers who produce little to entertain the crowd.

[eelez]

I think that the on the field issues are currently being overblown by everyone involved. This is a young group of players who are going from a freedom of expression style under Poch to a more rigid and structured style under Maresca. This was always going to take time. While Maresca does not have my trust yet, I have no reason to think that he won't do a good job with this team if given *time*. Which of course, doesn't exist at Chelsea, lol.

[mikeanthonyjr]

The way the club treated their “captain” for the majority of the season is an absolute disgrace.

[amonkosi]

Why is Chelsea preseason being highlighted much, while Spurs, Newcastle and Aston Villa getting smoked and it's crickets 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[CristianoSantos-ejqn]

Literally stopped watching 4 minutes in when they began to be critical of a team that in 3 weeks has failed to implement a style of play that is fundamentally alien to them. They're going to make mistakes, this isn't news.

[michouharoliyk]

The answer is OBVIOUS. Sign more players. They need at least another 5 forwards, 10 midfielders, and probably 8 new defenders. Also they should sign 5 or 6 extra goal keepers. That should fix everything