Chelsea’s biggest “tactical lesson” for Maresca remains a weakness well into his second season

Chelsea games are coming thick and fast right now – it’s hard to find a minute to take a breath and look at the season as a whole.

The Athletic have tried to do that today with a look at Enzo Maresca’s time at the club so far – what he’s doing well, what he’s doing not so well, and what we don’t yet know.

In terms of tactics, they’ve acknowledged that breaking down low blocks remains a major issue for Maresca’s team, perfectly illustrated in the difference between their 3-0 destruction of Barcelona (who came out to play and left space in behind) and the loss to Leeds just a week later.

Chelsea’s most challenging tactical issue remains glaring weakness

Enzo Maresca on the touchline. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

“Breaking down stubborn defences is still proving Maresca and Chelsea’s most challenging tactical lesson,” they wrote.

“They struggled against Sunderland and Brentford early in the season, and their difficulties against Leeds’ back five demonstrated that this problem is not going away. A 3-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers in November was promising — but they were helped hugely by the bottom side’s lack of quality. Leeds showed that Chelsea’s myriad attackers can still be held out by more disciplined defences.”

Up next we have Everton coming to Stamford Bridge, knowing they will put up a wall and we have to break it down. We’re curious to see how we do it.

In other news…

While Maresca is getting a lot of criticism for his rotations, he’s simultaneously running some of his players into the ground. It’s a tough situation for the manager.

Youtuber Matisse Armani unloaded on the manager for his decisions in the second half, turning a lead in a winnable game into a defeat with a whole messy confusion of system changes and subs in the second period.