McKenna or Maresca - Who should Chelsea appoint as Pochettino's replacement?

Cameron Smith

24 May 2024 12:00 BST
4 min read

Kieran McKenna, Enzo Maresca, Chelsea, 2023/24 — © IMAGO

Chelsea’s decision to part ways with Mauricio Pochettino has caused shockwaves across the football media space and the Blues are now on the hunt for a replacement.

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A return for Thomas Tuchel has been ruled out, while Xabi Alonso has committed to Bayer Leverkusen, Thiago Motta is on his way to Juventus and Sebastian Hoeness looks set to stay at Stuttgart.

According to The Telegraph’s Matt Law, Chelsea have narrowed their search down to four names: Thomas Frank, Enzo Maresca, Kieran McKenna and a ‘mystery’ option.

Although Frank is admired by the Blues, it appears as though he is currently a less likely candidate than Maresca or McKenna - the two managers who secured automatic promotion from the Championship this season.

Chelsea will interview Maresca for the position vacated by Pochettino, while McKenna is a leading contender to take over at Stamford Bridge, despite competition from Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion.

However, who is the better candidate?

Enzo Maresca or Kieran McKenna?

From a purely stylistic point of view, Maresca’s current system appears to align nicely with Chelsea’s ideal football philosophy under Clearlake Capital.

The Blues want a “young and progressive” manager who prioritises high-possession football. Maresca fits this to a tee, with his education under Pep Guardiola’s wing leading to a possession-dominant system at Leicester.

McKenna, on the other hand, is more tactically flexible and was forced to utilise a more transition-focused style at Ipswich due to the quality of player available to him.

The Tractor Boys maintained the vast majority of the squad that achieved promotion from League One and yet they finished second in the Championship, despite having a clearly inferior squad to play-off finalists Leeds United and Southampton.

Without players such as Stephy Mavididi or Kieran Dewsbury-Hall at his disposal, McKenna was forced to sacrifice an element of possession during the 2023-24 campaign; although his ideal tactical ideology is seemingly more ball-dominant than his Ipswich side displayed last year.

McKenna has excelled in combining defensive solidity with attacking prowess at Ipswich and his man management skills are second-to-none.

There is no doubt that McKenna is more versatile in his tactical approach than Maresca, but if Chelsea want to stick to one blueprint style from the get-go, appointing Maresca may make more sense.

The Italian has experience of working in a big-club environment and given he prioritises controlled possession football, he would naturally be able to make the jump up to a top-six club of Chelsea’s ilk.

McKenna is more keen on taking risks in the final-third, whereas Maresca is somewhat similar to Guardiola in his pattern-based style.

Appointing either manager would represent a huge risk, given their lack of experience, however Leicester’s collapse from February onwards is a real concern.

McKenna is far more adaptable from game-to-game and even within matches than Maresca and his achievements at Ipswich shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Maresca is currently a slight one-trick pony and while Chelsea want to appoint a possession-dominant head coach, McKenna is more well-rounded and is therefore the smart choice as things stand.