The blueprint for Enzo Maresca to follow at Chelsea is simple – Thomas Tuchel

Clash with Liverpool on Sunday one of the toughest examinations and whichever side wins will have a good start redefined as an excellent one

The appointment of England’s new manager is a timely reminder to Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca of his immediate challenge; to make his club as good as they were under Thomas Tuchel.
Slowly but surely, Chelsea are re-emerging. Over the last 22 Premier League games they have lost only twice – to Arsenal and Manchester City – and they head to Liverpool this weekend looking a strong bet to re-establish themselves in the top four this season.
Maresca has made an impressive start. The noise about vast spending and a bloated squad with players on extraordinarily long contracts has quietened down, and one of the most impressive aspects of the Italian’s first three months is that Chelsea resemble a team again.
One of a manager’s first tasks is to ensure the culture of a dressing room is right, standards are set, and no matter what the personal ambitions of every player they always look out for their team mates. The valid criticism of Chelsea at the start of last season and heading into this one is that there were too many at the club for such togetherness to be possible. Too many unhappy players and big contracts can be a contamination.
Over recent games, that observation has not carried any weight. Perhaps the club being in the Europa Conference League is a blessing, because it means Maresca can keep everyone involved. Tougher days await, especially if he leads the club back into the Champions League and settles on a core starting XI. For now, he should be commended for steering the squad on the right course while acknowledging they are not yet what they were.
The Premier League and Champions League has been readjusting to life without Chelsea as a challenger. Even when form was erratic from one season to the next, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte delivered championships, and Tuchel led the club to the Champions League.
It was not so long ago that a ‘transitional period’ at Stamford Bridge meant settling for Europa League or FA Cup victory.
Roman Abramovich’s sale to Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali ended that. Plenty has been said and written about how the current owners have gone about bringing the glory days back, and no matter what they do from here I will never agree they were right to sack Tuchel and part company with Mauricio Pochettino. When Tuchel left it set Chelsea back a couple of years. The current upward trajectory began with Pochettino so his exit last summer threatened to stall progress again.
That is why Maresca deserves credit, especially in getting the best from Cole Palmer who is a game-changing footballer. Pochettino had begun to unlock the immense talent. Chelsea’s sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley made a smart move appointing a coach who already knew Palmer from their Manchester City days. Palmer is thriving and any team with him has a chance.
Coming into this season I initially thought it too soon for Chelsea to finish in the top four because the team spirit and connection with the fans was not there. Palmer is the biggest reason my view has changed. Now they can do it, although given the scale of their investment that is where they should be.
If Palmer was at Liverpool, Arne Slot would be more likely to finish his debut season as a title winner. Palmer is that good, currently averaging more goal involvements per match than Stamford Bridge greats like Didier Drogba and Diego Costa.
An Anfield trip is one of the toughest examinations, of course, especially with Slot trying to preserve his place at the top of the Premier League.
Whichever side wins will have their good start redefined as an excellent one. A defeat will feel like a significant setback leading to questions about how much further they must go to reach their required level. That’s the nature of the beast when the top teams face off.
The same churlish observation has been directed at both sides that ‘they have had a kind fixture schedule’ which explains the signs of promise. Slot has driven this bandwagon himself with regards Liverpool’s first seven league games.
He is wrong to downplay the significance of any winning run. I do not like a trend creeping into our game where fans, pundits and perhaps even senior figures at top clubs start turning their noses up at so-called ‘routine wins’. Every Premier League victory counts and must be earned. Some wins may feel better emotionally or in terms of the confidence they bring, but there is no more value in terms of points. A top-four side can trip up against any team in the division.
A title bid is not just about beating rivals or the perceived ‘bigger clubs’. Manchester City failed to beat Arsenal and Liverpool last season but it did not stop them becoming champions.
A good season needs teams like Liverpool and Chelsea to beat the teams they are ‘expected’ to. It becomes a great season when the stronger sides are defeated too.
Chelsea are already six points better off compared to their corresponding fixtures in 2023-24. Liverpool beat Manchester United at Old Trafford, which is a big ask no matter what the relative form of both teams.
The overall impression lingers that Chelsea are fighting with others to finish 4th, and Liverpool will be a title rival of Arsenal and City again.
A healthy measure of where Liverpool and Chelsea are at is whether this rivalry will develop the kind of edge we have witnessed throughout the Premier League era. Chelsea and Liverpool are in a healthier state when they can’t stand each other, even if the mutual respect between the players and coaches has always been there.
This goes back to Mourinho and Rafa Benitez’s epic Champions League clashes, of course. It was there with Jurgen Klopp versus Tuchel, too. Their domestic cup finals in 2022 were of the highest quality and intensity.
Maresca and Slot are part of a new generation of more analytical than emotional managers, but this fixture has always had the potential to explode (remember Frank Lampard’s touchline spat with Klopp in 2020?). Chelsea beating Liverpool to the signings of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia was the latest of many occasions over two decades in which players have been lured to Stamford Bridge over Anfield. No club has been so adept as Chelsea at rubbing it in that not every footballer sees Liverpool as the ultimate destination. Last season Liverpool left their mark on Chelsea by beating them in the Carabao Cup Final, prompting Gary Neville’s jibe about the ‘billion pound bottle jobs’. That must still rankle.
If the hostility gets back to what it was, it will be good news for the clubs and the Premier League. Liverpool versus Chelsea has the potential to ensure Pep Guardiola vs Mikel Arteta does not monopolise the next few years at the Premier League summit.
There is much work to be done by Maresca and Slot to get that far, but I have a sneaking feeling that Sunday is the first of many duels between coaches who, in time, will be going head-to-head for the biggest prizes.