Maresca retains board backing at Chelsea

A busy week is about to begin at Chelsea.

On Tuesday, Jose Mourinho, one of the club’s most admired players, makes his return to west London with his new team Benfica in the Champions League.

Then, on Saturday, Liverpool, the defending Premier League champions, will be playing in town.

Following a run of one victories in five games, the Carabao Cup matchup between League One club Lincoln City, Blues manager Enzo Maresca would not have hand-picked this week.

In recent weeks, the narrative has undergone a notable change, at least externally, regarding the Italian position.

Maresca’s job appeared to be among the safest in the country as the new season approached, at least from the outside.

He had secured Chelsea’s place in the Champions League after leading the team to a top-four finish that was more relevant.

Then, in its new format, Maresca led the club’s triumph at the Fifa Club World Cup, becoming the competition’s inaugural winners.

Despite those notable accomplishments, Maresca’s position has once more been subject to scrutiny in recent weeks as a result of Chelsea’s unfavorable start to the season, which they currently lead by seven points behind leaders Liverpool.

Behind the scenes at Chelsea, it seems like some of the criticism they faced before had been overreacted.

Due to their participation in the Club World Cup and the added workload brought on by their Champions League campaign, it has also been acknowledged that there are likely to be undulations this season.

Chelsea are putting their own personal perspective on things, despite the disappointments caused by recent defeats by Manchester United and Brighton and the acknowledgement that their form needs to improve.

Since May, Maresca’s side have only lost five games, and in four of those defeats, they have lost just 10 men.

In addition, Chelsea continued to work with him last season despite a mid-winter slump that saw the team only win three of their 12 matches, including one against Morecambe in the FA Cup.

With a top-four league finish and deep cup runs in mind, the 45-year-old wants to judge Maresca at the end of the season.

Despite that, there is a perception that Maresca is much more talented than they were last year, which raises expectations.

However, it is obvious that the campaign should be evaluated as a whole.

Given their Champions League participation, key players concur that avoiding injuries will be difficult to avoid this year.

In order to ensure Maresca had the tools to rotate players in light of the increased workload, they made efforts to strengthen the squad over the summer.

Of course, it’s still to be seen if the support stops or how they can continue to improve their early season form.