Thread by @EBL2017

Chelsea under Enzo Maresca — the bigger picture.

🇧🇷 João Pedro
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jamie Gittens
✅ They have the quality to dominate with the ball
🔐 But if they want to win, the culture has to change

Let’s break it down.
A thread 👇

João Pedro is an exceptional footballer, and Jame Gittens has the potential to be one.

But the key for Chelsea and Maresca is to address their lack of physicality and entire culture which is not obsessed with defending the way it needs to be to compete with the elites.

João Pedro will offer better pressing as a second-striker than Cole Palmer. By how much, I am not entirely sure.

He strikes me as the kind of player who will press if the collective mentality to do it is present, but if it is not there they he can be passive & laid-back himself.

Something like the below off-ball shape and team would see Chelsea perform at their best next season.

It can see the team attack with one of the fullbacks inverted & Caicedo pushed up one or with Reece James overlapping on the outside of Palmer.

But focus on the defence first..

Delap and Pedro have enough about them defensively to press with intensity.

Lavia and Caicedo are excellent ball-winners in midfield.

Fofana and Colwill is a top partnership.

Maignan at least profiles like someone who Chelsea need (they MUST sign a goalkeeper this summer).

The issue with this team is the goalkeeper is not in the building yet + James, Fofana, and Lavia rarely put games together..

Then you have guys like Tosin coming into the team who is good but sub-elite.

Or Enzo in midfield who makes the team too soft despite being a top player.

Chelsea are spread bare despite being *closer* to what they need to make themselves truly compete with the elites.

Their fans keep talking about on-ball dynamics and things like this but you can tell that they are inexperienced because Chelsea are already excellent in that area.

What actually matters is how resilient, intense, and robust the squad is from a tactical, depth, and psychological point of view.

We know Chelsea have top players.

We know Maresca is a phenomenal tactician.

What we don't know is that the culture of the squad is ready to win.

This is the type of thing we saw at Chelsea last season.

Jackson loses the ball, City break away in transition, and 25 whole seconds later the front 4 still haven't recovered.

And, you know what is arguably the MOST concerning thing here?

Maresca stood and watched.

First of all, do you think someone like Klopp would have to make Sadio Mané or Roberto Firmino track back?

Second, do you think that if they didn't that he wouldn't completely lose his mind over it?!

Chelsea's players didn't track back.

AND their manager did not react to it.

That is extremely concerning.

And, for all of the qualities that the likes of Gittens and João Pedro have, I don't think that these young and talented players are the guys who are going to come in and change the culture at the club or solve the imbalance in the team.

- The goalkeeper is not good enough.
- Chelsea lack depth behind the ever-unavailable Fofana.
- Caicedo-Enzo-Palmer is not a balanced midfield defensively.
- Palmer often fails to get enough pressure on the ball from the #10.

The spine of the team has the biggest issues.

Yet they are not being addressed in the market (yet, anyway)?

And, what baffles me the most is that Maresca has been quoted many times at saying the right type of thing.

For example, he wanted to sign van Dijk to improve the leadership and add necessary experience to the squad.

He has also addressed the teams lack of physicality and specifically pointed to Chelsea being better with guys who I mentioned are crucial to the team above (Fofana and Lavia).

For these reasons we can be positive, though.

Maresca seems to be aware of the most important issues.

And, after all, Chelsea did try and sign Maignan this window which suggests that the club are aware of the issues here (despite his public backing of their current goalkeepers).

Antonio Silva has also been scouted by Chelsea which, without assessing his quality, is a positive.

At this early stage in the window, it is hard to jump to damning conclusions, and maybe Jamies Gittens and João Pedro will prove to be two of *MANY* good additions for Maresca and Chelsea, but that will need to be the case..

The defence and overall culture is the key to success.

If it is possible, Chelsea will need to sign a goalkeeper, a right-sided centre half, and another physical midfield profile (because of Lavia's unavailability + Enzo's profile).

Maybe amongst all of those youngsters they spent big money on they will have some internal solutions.

It is certainly not an issue with quality based on the managers tactics or the players' individual level, but merely a case of defensive balance, respecting the game defensively, and having a culture that is conducive to dominating.

That is Maresca's task to solve this summer.

João Pedro is a top player and Jamie Gittens has potential to be a top player, so there is no doubt about the individuals that Chelsea are signing, but they are still yet to address the elephant in the room.

Whether Maresca + Chelsea do or not determines their success in 25/26..