There is no getting away from it, Enzo Maresca was in a bullish mood as he conducted his pre-match press conference at Chelsea’s training base in Cobham on Friday morning.
In recent weeks, Maresca perhaps went into his shell a bit more – understandably given the Blues’ run of form in the Premier League, with two wins from their last nine matches in the competition. Pressure has grown on the head coach for the first time since he was appointed as Mauricio Pochettino‘s successor last summer. After Chelsea beat Brentford 2-1 on December 15, everything changed for Maresca and the Blues.
Injuries have not helped the Italian. He has been missing the likes of Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile throughout this difficult period, while Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu both – in rather disastrous circumstances – suffered injuries in the win against West Ham United on transfer deadline day. Two strikers injured in the final hours of the window where the west Londoners were linked with several centre-forwards and none arrived. You almost couldn’t write it.
People have started to question whether Maresca is the right man to spearhead Chelsea’s long-term vision. The club believe he is and retain full faith in the Italian coach, who signed a five-year contract at Stamford Bridge in June 2024. Jonathan Goldstein, a Chelsea director, came out this week and publicly backed Maresca, insisting he will “100%” be the head coach come the end of the season.
Maresca, whether he had it planned beforehand or not, came out and fought his corner in Friday morning’s press conference where the Chelsea head coach was previewing his side’s trip to Aston Villa on Saturday. A refreshing change from recent weeks and one Blues supporters can surely get on board with. A message to the club’s hierarchy reiterating he is the right man for the job; an extremely tough job at that.
“I’ve always been clear since day one: I’m not here to – and I’ve said this already a few times – I’m not here to survive, I’m here to win games, I’m here to bring this club to fight for titles,” Maresca said, defiantly. “I’ve said this already many times but the problem is, when you win games, you look humble and when you don’t win games, you look like you lack ambition.
“Since day one, I joined this club and my intention was to win games, win titles and to bring this club where this club deserves to be. I’ve said this since day one. If you review all of my press conferences, I always say the same. The problem is when you win, you look humble and when you don’t win, you look like you lack ambition.
“I’m ambitious, the club is ambitious. We have the same manager, same players, same owners and same sporting directors from two months ago when we were second in the league. Nothing has changed. The only thing that has changed is we are dealing with many injuries and this has affected a little bit the level of the team.”
Of course, these words will be rendered almost meaningless to supporters if Chelsea are unable to qualify for the Champions League, especially with it looking increasingly likely that a top-five finish will ensure a place in Europe’s elite competition next season.
