Chelsea reporter pocket book: Why Enzo Maresca is unfazed by the strain of being within the Stamford Bridge hotseat

There are I think about a number of that concur with Enzo Maresca’s emotions in direction of January as being “disaster” however maybe for various causes, writes Sky Sports activities’ Gail Davis.

It did not sound just like the Chelsea boss has a lot time for New Yr’s resolutions. It took him a superb couple of minutes to work out when his final time without work was – for the document it was someday throughout November’s worldwide break.

What’s occupying a lot of his thoughts is discovering a technique to reignite Chelsea’s season. The membership’s final league win was again in mid-December towards Brentford – they blew their probability having led at Fulham to go prime of the desk on Boxing Day and have not loved a victory within the league since. Add within the rising “noise” which January’s switch window brings, particularly at a membership like Chelsea, and you start to grasp his disdain for the month.

His reply to being a contented Chelsea head coach, he jokes, would possibly nicely be maintaining his telephone on silent this month.

“It is better I don’t answer,” he laughs.

The opposite burning situation round discovering a technique to get Chelsea successful once more may not be fairly as simple as flicking a change. The priority for Chelsea is {that a} little bit of a sample is rising.

In opposition to Fulham on Boxing Day they dominated the primary half and took the lead solely to seek out themselves sucked right into a sport plan they did not need to play after half-time, and the match resulted in a 2-1 Fulham win. Defeat towards Ipswich adopted after Maresca’s staff had been once more wasteful in entrance of aim. Then got here the draw with Crystal Palace after Cole Palmer had put Chelsea forward however they failed to shut out the sport. At Stamford Bridge final Tuesday, Chelsea had 26 pictures towards Bournemouth and 10 on course – Palmer scored the primary, however they wanted a Reece James free-kick late on to salvage some extent.

Maresca in his quick managerial profession has confronted a bump like this earlier than. Final yr at Leicester after blowing the Championship away within the opening few months, the membership hit a wobble.

He did study from it he says and might draw on a number of the learnings of what he did to get Leicester by means of it and again to the Premier League. Finally, he says, the stakes could seem larger however the options are the identical.

“No, I don’t feel pressure, no matter if I was at Leicester last year or here. I mean, I feel pressure because I put pressure on myself to see how we can do better, how we can help players to improve,” he mentioned.

“So this kind of pressure for sure, but it’s not just here. It was last year, it was two years ago in some way. So it’s not, for me, it’s not a big change between last year and this year.

“On the finish, the most effective factor is to work with 20 gamers, 25 gamers day-by-day. Younger gamers, they need to study, they need to enhance. And this is identical job at Leicester as right here or I mentioned in a roundabout way two years in the past.”

He adds: “When you see the desk on this second, until you’re Liverpool, the remainder, all of us had a nasty second, unhealthy outcomes for 4 or 5 video games, and it is Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Metropolis, all of us.

“So I think the normal thing is that this kind of moment is going to happen during the season, the normal thing. It hasn’t to Liverpool really, and if they can finish the season in the way they are doing, that means that they are completely deserving to win, but there are so many games to play that anything can happen.”

In these more difficult moments, I ask “do you have a network of people outside of your coaching team who you can call on?”

On condition that Maresca performed throughout 11 totally different golf equipment throughout 4 totally different nations below the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi and naturally alongside Pep Guardiola, you may solely think about the names and numbers saved in his contacts, so the reply is stunning.

“My four kids,” he says.

“I guess you can’t get more honest than your kids”, I add. “But really, no-one else?”

“No, I don’t have any,” Maresca replies. “I have the coaching staff with me, that we try to help each other, and then I don’t have any person outside of the club, or outside of the coaching staff,” he admits.

There may be clearly an unshakable perception in what he’s doing. You do not want anybody else, I ask.

“Not at the moment, hopefully not in the future, but at the moment I’m okay. I spend almost all my day here, from 7 o’clock to 7 o’clock then I go home to my four kids and wife and I try to recover a little bit of energy.”

“So come on then,” I ask, “what’s the best thing one of your kids has said to you over the last few weeks? Something like. ‘Daddy, when are you going to start scoring?”, I jest.

“The good thing is now they are understanding,” Maresca says. “The biggest one is 11, so sometimes he’s asking me about some changes, I say, already the press ask me, already the fans ask me, now also my kids ask about changes.

“Cannot you simply love your dad and don’t fret? OK, OK, OK, I like you Daddy?”

If only it was always as easy as that we laugh.

There’s a lightness and a heat behind Maresca however the overriding feeling speaking to him is certainly one of depth and an actual steeliness – not a shock when you think about the affect of Guardiola on his teaching profession.

He has already proven in his quick time at Chelsea that he could make typically unpopular choices. He disputes the outline of “brutal”, extra “honest”, he says.

“I think if you are honest with the players, if you are open, if they can see that you are real and you are not fake, I think it’s the best way. And since we started, since day one, I try to be open with them, I try to be honest with them, and I think they can see that.

“I hope that they’ll respect that. I attempt to be near the gamers, as a result of I believe in the way in which I prefer to be near the gamers after which, as I mentioned, be sincere to make it work.”

The squad can by no means be doubtful of the place they’re and the place they have to be – and that’s targeted proper now, though Maresca concedes that in January that’s onerous for some gamers.

One participant who has been setting these requirements and who actually is not going anyplace for a while is Cole Palmer. A doubt for Monday’s sport with Wolves after selecting up a knock towards Bournemouth, Palmer has been phenomenal this season. His opener within the sport on Tuesday evening was one other so as to add to the extraordinary finishes he has to his identify in a Chelsea shirt.

Palmer has signed a nine-year contract, which was eyebrow-raising on the time and maybe till information of the Erling Haaland contract deal which broke simply earlier than our interview. Two poster boys of the Premier League, two gamers Maresca has had the privilege of working with shut up – however who would possibly show to be the larger legend for his or her membership if we glance again in a decade.

“It’s so complicated,” Maresca replies. “It is one thing that’s nearly not possible. To begin with, as a result of you may think about a little bit little bit of the longer term however on the finish, you do not know, many issues can occur.

“The thing is that this kind of a club like City, like Chelsea, they try to protect or to keep the best player as long as they can. The good thing is that both are top players and they’re going to be there for a long time and we can enjoy them.”

There is a debate that Palmer’s skillset provides his staff greater than possibly Haaland. Maresca smiles: “We are happy in the way he’s doing but as we said since we started, it’s not correct to rely on Cole for everything. He’s helping us, but also we have more players that are doing well and this is important.”

These gamers could nicely get their alternative on Monday and if they’ll take them then the complexion of the month could start to alter for the Chelsea head coach.

Watch Chelsea vs Wolves dwell on Monday Night time Soccer from 6.30pm on Sky Sports activities Premier League, kick-off 8pm.