Five reasons why Chelsea should sack Enzo Maresca

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 18 Apr 2025 21:32 BST
• 6 min read

Analysis

Chelsea’s slump under Clearlake Capital has been well-documented and Enzo Maresca is the latest head coach to face questions over his long-term future in west London.

Thomas Tuchel was axed, perhaps unfairly, after a disappointing start to the 2022-23 campaign, Graham Potter fared even worse following his expensive arrival from Brighton & Hove Albion and the interim appointment of Frank Lampard resulted in a measly one win in 11 matches to end Clearlake Capital’s debut season.

READ MORE: Enzo Maresca fires BRUTAL warning to Cole Palmer

Mauricio Pochettino was the latest to fall foul at Stamford Bridge last summer, despite the fact that his eight wins in the final 12 Premier League games of last season would’ve earned Chelsea a Europa League spot if Manchester City had triumphed in the FA Cup final.

Instead, the Blues were demoted to the Europa Conference League - a competition in which they progressed into the semi-finals on Thursday night.

However, Chelsea’s passage into the last four wasn’t greeted with applause, it was met with jeers and boos.

READ MORE: Enzo Maresca is officially facing the Chelsea SACK

A wholly unsatisfactory evening started before the match had even begun. Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Marc Cucurella and Reece James were all surprise inclusions in Maresca’s starting XI, with many assuming Chelsea would rest their key players following a 3-0 first-leg win over Legia Warsaw.

After all, the Blues need a near-faultless end to the Premier League campaign in order to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

But, a star-studded XI - one that cost a combined €307.2 million - stuttered and stumbled to a humiliating 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Legia Warsaw are fifth in the Polish top flight and their record signing - former Wolves defender Ruben Vinagre - cost a measly €2.5 million.

By contrast, Chelsea have exceeded that transfer fee on 173 occasions during their 120-year history.

However, a Tomas Pekhart penalty and a close-range strike from Steve Kapuadi earned Goncalo Feio’s side a first ever victory on English soil.

Chelsea, of course, progressed thanks to a 4-2 aggregate win, but questions over Maresca’s future have intensified in the aftermath of the clash.

The west London giants have only recorded five victories in their last 16 Premier League fixtures and their hopes of Champions League qualification are dwindling by the second.

Clearlake Capital have repeatedly stated that Maresca will not be sacked, but there are certainly several reasons why the Italian should be fearful about his future at Stamford Bridge.

Below, FootballTransfers runs through five reasons why Chelsea should consider sacking Maresca.

1. Chelsea’s recent form

The biggest reason why Maresca could lose his job is Chelsea’s frankly woeful set of results over the past four months.

The Blues have only picked up 20 points from a possible 48 since 22 December and they have slipped from title contention down to sixth place in the Premier League table.

Champions League qualification now looks increasingly unlikely - given a tricky set of remaining fixtures - and the west London giants look a shadow of the side that were bossing things back in November.

2. The fans aren’t happy

Fans always have an impact on the security of their manager and things are no different with Maresca and Chelsea.

The Italian has taken aim at Blues supporters in recent weeks, and his relationship with the fans may have reached the point of no return.

His risk-averse style of play has angered supporters and with slow and laboured possession favoured over attacking flair, Maresca’s standing at Chelsea has diminished significantly amid their poor form.

3. Cole Palmer’s worrying dip in form

Cole Palmer is Chelsea’s best player, but he certainly hasn’t looked like it in 2025.

The aforementioned Pochettino turned Palmer into one of the world’s most exciting players last season, but he appears to be shackled by Maresca’s system and he looks devoid of any confidence.

Palmer is without a goal in his last 15 matches and while the Englishman is, of course, to blame for his downturn in form, Maresca hasn’t been able to help him rediscover his creative spark and that’s a concern.

4. Maresca’s system has been figured out

On seven occasions this season, Chelsea have beaten a team during their first meeting, before failing to win the second game against the same opposition.

Furthermore, the Blues have only beaten five English teams twice so far this campaign - Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United, Leicester City, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur.

That is a worrying trend and it points to the fact that opposing managers have learned a clear way of how to stifle Maresca's system after facing him once. What is even more worrying is that the exact same thing happened at Leicester last year - with the Foxes only amassing 19 points from a possible 42 in their final 14 Championship fixtures.

Chelsea simply haven’t performed well in the final-third since the beginning of 2025 and it appears as though Maresca’s system - which he has admitted is the only style he can coach - has been figured out.

Unless he adopts a new tactical approach, Maresca appears unlikely to change Chelsea’s fortunes.

5. Clearlake Capital

Chelsea’s owners - Clearlake Capital - are actually a major reason why Maresca could potentially be fired.

They have spent close to €1.4 billion on new signings over the past three years, yet Chelsea’s squad is still pretty average.

Somehow, the Blues don’t have a reliable goalkeeper, a prolific centre forward, goalscoring wingers or world-class central defenders. Their ludicrous spending should’ve resulted in Chelsea having one of the best squads in world football, but that simply isn’t the case.

However, Maresca hasn't extracted the maximum out of his squad and considering the money spent on the majority of players at his disposal, that is a real problem.

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