Chelsea reporter’s notebook: Why Maresca doesn’t flinch under pressure

I imagine there are some who agree with Enzo Maresca’s feelings about January being a “disaster”, but perhaps for different reasons, writes Sky Sports’ Gail Davis.

It didn’t seem like the Chelsea manager had much time for New Year’s resolutions. It took him a good few minutes to exercise when it was his last day off; For the record, it was sometime during the November international break.

What occupies much of his mind is finding a way to revive Chelsea’s season. The club’s last league victory was in mid-December against Brentford; They blew their chance to lead Fulham to the top of the table on Boxing Day and have not enjoyed a league win since. Add in the increasing “noise” that the January transfer window brings, especially at a club like Chelsea, and you begin to understand their disdain for the month.

His answer to being a happy Chelsea manager, he jokes, could well be to keep his phone on silent this month.

“It’s better if I don’t answer,” he laughs.

The other hot topic around finding a way for Chelsea to win again might not be as easy as flipping a switch. The concern for Chelsea is that a pattern is emerging.

Against Fulham on Boxing Day, they dominated the first half and took the lead only to be caught in a game plan they did not want to follow after the break, and the match ended in a 2-1 Fulham victory. The defeat against Ipswich came after Maresca’s team missed the goal again. Then came the draw with Crystal Palace after Cole Palmer put Chelsea ahead, but they failed to close out the match. Last Tuesday at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea had 26 shots against Bournemouth and 10 on target: Palmer scored the first, but they needed a free kick from Reece James later to salvage a point.

In his short managerial career, Maresca has faced a bump like this before. Last year in Leicester, after sweeping the championship in the first months, the club faltered.

He learned from it, he says, and can take some of the learnings from what he did to get Leicester past it and back into the Premier League. Ultimately, he says, the stakes may seem higher, but the solutions are the same.

“No, I don’t feel pressure, it doesn’t matter if I was at Leicester last year or here. I mean, I feel pressure because I put pressure on myself to see how we can do better, how we can help the players get better. ” said.

“So this kind of pressure is for sure, but it’s not just here. It was last year, it was two years ago somehow. So, for me, it’s not a big change between last year and this year.

“In the end, the best thing is to work with 20 players, 25 players day by day. Young players want to learn, they want to improve. And this is the same job in Leicester as here or I said in Somehow two years ago.”

And he adds: “If you look at the table at the moment, unless you are Liverpool, the rest, we have all had a bad moment, bad results in four or five games, and it is Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Metropolis, all of us.

“So I think the regular thing is that this type of moment happens during the season, the regular thing. It hasn’t really happened to Liverpool, and if they can finish the season the way they are doing, that means “They completely deserve to win, but there are so many games left to play that anything can happen.”

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In those more challenging moments, I ask, “Do you have a network of people outside of your coaching team that you can call on?”

Given that Maresca played for 11 different clubs in four different countries under Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi and of course alongside Pep Guardiola, you can only imagine the names and numbers saved in his contacts, so the answer is surprising .

“My four children,” he says.

“I guess you can’t be more honest than your children,” I added. “But really, no one else?”

“No, I don’t have one,” Maresca responds. “I have the coaching staff with me, who try to help each other, and then I don’t have any person outside the club, nor outside the coaching staff,” he admits.

There is clearly an unwavering belief in what he is doing. You don’t need anyone else, I ask you.

“Not at the moment, I hope not in the future, but at the moment I’m fine. I spend almost the entire day here, from 7 to 7, then I return home to my four children, my wife and my family. I try to regain some energy.”

“So come on,” I ask, “what’s the best thing one of your kids has said to you in the last few weeks? Like, ‘Dad, when are you going to start scoring?'” I joke.

“The good thing is that now they understand it,” says Maresca. “The oldest is 11, so sometimes he asks me about some changes, I mean, the press already asks me, the fans already ask me, now my children also ask about changes.

“Can’t you just love your dad and not worry? Okay, okay, okay, do I love you dad?”

If only it were always so easy to laugh.

There is a lightness and warmth behind Maresca, but the predominant feeling when speaking to him is one of intensity and true toughness, which is not a surprise when you consider Guardiola’s influence on his coaching career.

He has already shown in his short time at Chelsea that he can make sometimes unpopular decisions. He questions the description of “brutal,” rather “honest,” he says.

“I think if you are honest with the players, if you are open, if they can see that you are current and not fake, I think that is the best way. And since we started, since day one, I try to be I’m open with them, I try to be honest with them and I think they can see it.

“I hope you can appreciate that.”. “I try to be around the players, because I think I like to be around the players and then, like I said, be honest to make it work.”

The team can never have any doubts about where it is and where it needs to be, and that is the focus right now, although Maresca admits that in January that will be difficult for some players.

One player who has been setting those standards and who certainly isn’t going anywhere for some time is Cole Palmer. Doubtful for Monday’s game against Wolves after suffering a knock against Bournemouth, Palmer has been phenomenal this season. His first goal in Tuesday night’s game was another to add to the extraordinary results he has to his name in a Chelsea shirt.

Palmer signed a nine-year contract, which was surprising at the time and perhaps even the news of the contractual agreement with Erling Haaland that was known just before our interview. Two poster boys of the Premier League, two players with whom Maresca has had the privilege of working closely, but who could become the biggest legend of their club if we look back in a decade.

“It’s very complicated,” responds Maresca. “It is something that is almost impossible. First of all, because you can imagine the future a little but in the end, you don’t know, many things can happen.

“The point is that these types of clubs like Metropolis, like Chelsea, try to protect or retain the best player for as long as possible. The good thing is that they are both top-level players and they are going to be there for a long time.” a lot of time and we can enjoy them.”

There is debate that Palmer’s skills give his team more than perhaps Haaland. Maresca smiles: “We are happy with how he is doing, but as we have said since we started, it is not right to depend on Cole for everything. He is helping us, but we also have more players who are doing well and that is important.”

Those players may get their chance on Monday and if they can take advantage of it, the complexion of the month may begin to change for Chelsea’s head coach.

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