Chelsea has recently announced their decision to part ways with the Italian head coach, Enzo Maresca, following reported tension between the management and the head coach.
The decision comes at a surprising time and raises many questions about Chelsea’s future, short-term objectives, and results.
Taking such crucial decisions at a delicate time in the season, when the team’s schedule is quite busy, and the challenges are high, cannot be considered a very wise choice from Chelsea’s management, even if the manager’s ideas or results no longer convince them.
At the same time, the fact that Maresca was appointed only one season ago and that he has already succeeded in making the team look more united and have a more obvious identity can only mean that he is doing well with the team and that it would be useful to give him more time.
Furthermore, Maresca has been successful in his first season, having helped the team secure a top-four finish in the Premier League and lifting the UEFA Conference League title after beating Real Betis in the final.
Not only that, Maresca’s first season with the Blues was even more successful, as he capped it with stellar performances in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, beating the UEFA Champions League holders, PSG, 3-0 in the final.
But despite these successes, Maresca has had moments of failure as well, especially during the latest period, when his team has won only one of their last seven games.
One of the alleged reasons for the disagreements with management is Maresca’s disagreement with the medical team’s decisions about players’ availability, along with behind-the-scenes issues that complicated the relationship between management and the head coach.
In this Chelsea tactical analysis, we will look at what Maresca has achieved and changed at Chelsea during his spell with the club, and what has led to the recent series of negative results, accelerating his departure.
The analysis will also suggest what needs to be avoided in the near future to prevent the team’s season from becoming a complete failure despite the high potential.
Enzo Maresca Tactics At Chelsea
The arrival of Maresca changed a lot of things for the better, as no one can deny that he improved the performances of several Chelsea players, such as Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernández.
His attacking system, based on playing wide and on finding spaces for key third passes, made the difference for Chelsea and helped them significantly in winning a lot of games last season to achieve the fourth spot.
Chelsea Wing-Play & Reliance On Third-Man Plays
At Chelsea, Maresca relied on wide full-backs and wingers, while keeping the centre-backs and the two central midfielders close to each other to create space between the full-backs and the midfielders.
Those spaces are usually exploited by either the striker or one of the wingers/advanced playmakers to receive passes in key positions.
The objective of such plans is to create a passing possibility for a third player coming from behind or making the forward movement into space following the unlocking of that area.
This tactic helped Maresca’s Chelsea a lot, making their attacking transitions smoother and more dangerous on many occasions.
The following picture highlights the movements behind the opponents’ defensive lines and the flexibility in terms of attacking positioning for their players.
The goal action sees Malo Gusto advancing to hold a right advanced playmaker position, knowing that his position in this match was right-back.
The action starts with Reece James advancing with the ball, and Gusto exploits that to position himself in a more central, advanced position to receive the ball while creating numerical superiority inside the final third.
This not only confuses the opponent’s defensive organisation but also creates the possibility for Cole Palmer to escape from marking and attack the space behind the defensive line.
Under the management of Maresca, a lot of goals were scored thanks to such key passes and movements at the back of defensive lines, and that’s something that counts for him.
Furthermore, pushing his team to usually create numerical superiority through various means (notably positional flexibility and changes) was one of Maresca’s most remarkable strengths in the attacking phase.
Chelsea Poor Chemistry Due To Turnover
That said, what impacted the team’s performance, especially this season, was the lack of consistency in the players used, especially in the attacking phase.
And for this, the head coach cannot be the only one to blame since the management had a say in the summer transfers.
