Who is to blame for our fall off since Xmas? SIX games to go & UCL chances slim down, Maresca digging his own grave, Jackson & Palmer need to step up, The Sanchez situation shows incompetence.....
The Chelsea FC Newsletter: Tuesday 15th April 2025!
Morning all,
Plenty more reactions from me today on our draw with Ipswich on Sunday and looking ahead to our final six games.
Champions League qualification is now not in our own hands, that is just a fact after the latest round of league games at the weekend. Here I’ve taken a look at our last six games and our chances of qualifying for the UCL. We are now reliant on the clubs above us and below us in fact, dropping points too. It’s not over until it’s over though of course, and we have some huge games coming up now. Also in this, who is to blame for our drop off since Christmas? I answer in the article.
Enzo Maresca is certainly one of those who gets the blame, absolutely. He’s not only been poor as a head coach overall, in my opinion, but he’s also turning the fan base against him with stupid comments that he makes and picking fights with us. He’s been at it again after the Ipswich game, and I feel he is digging his own grave. Words in full here.
Some of the players need to step up too and of course they are to blame as well as Maresca. Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer have really dropped off in terms of getting goals and overall form, and it’s totally fine to be highlighting that fact. I’ve looked at the stats in here for both players and it’s not good. Jackson really needs to step up with a new striker arriving in the summer too.
The biggest blame for me is on those who have built this squad that lacks so much. The goalkeeper situation has been hideous as just one example, but there have been many more. Robert Sanchez was again terrible against Ipswich, and the stats here prove it. I can’t take anyone seriously who picks Sanchez or who have not sold/replaced him yet.
Round up all your latest Chelsea news in the same place from across the last 24 hours here, covering all the transfer news, more game reactions, interviews, quotes, and anything else in between.
See you all on the next live blog from around 8.30am!
Peace, Si.
It seems the SD’s incompetence has rubbed off on Maresca. I like your honesty Si we can’t pretend everything is okay. I looked at the team/ squad against Ipswich on Sunday and we are really not any better than clubs like Bournemouth or Fulham just because you pay 100 million for someone it doesn’t mean they are good. I love the club and I always will be I don’t like it at the moment.
Si, you are right to say the goalkeeping situation has been hideous, but ask yourself why? Maresca, supposedly wanted Sanchez and Jorgensen because he believed they were good with their feet and best suited his system. Yet we had Kepa and Petrovic on the books. Petrovic did a job for us last season and was okay with the ball at his feet. Kepa is the best of the four when it comes to ball playing skills, it shows that he used to be a midfielder. Yet for some unknown reason we got rid of our best two keepers, who were the best two suited to his system, where is the logic in that?
Both have had very good seasons out on loan and apparently Petrovic's ball skills have come on enormously. So, Maresca has to take the blame for that one and if he is being forced to play Sanchez, he needs to grow a pair and say it's my job on the line and tell Ben Webster to piss off. What hasn't helped Sanchez is the fact that Maresca changes the back 4 every week, meaning that we have never had a settled spine, once again Maresca has to take the blame for that, he is trying to please too many players by giving them playing time. Note to the manager, if you had taken the two domestic cups more seriously, players would have had more playing time. We have not beaten one team apart from The Spuds, who we have played earlier in the season, opposition managers have sussed out his very rigid system and once again he has to shoulder the blame for that. Saying we were not going to win the title in December was a mistake, a realistic comment but it should have been worded differently.
He is not totally to blame, but Maresca's shortcomings have come horrendously to the surface. But when you choose an inexperienced manager, who apparently refuses to learn from his mistakes, then Egbalhi and the SD's have to look at themselves in the mirror. A good manager improves players, Poch did that brilliantly last season, how many players have improved under Maresca if any? I hate the managerial merry go round, but in business the Peter Principle states that a person will rise to his own level of incompetency. Sadly I believe Maresca's is managing Chelsea.