“Insane” Maresca should not blame fans: “your team, playing your system, screwed up” | OneFootball

We’ve all had a lot of patience with new manager Enzo Maresca this season, but he’s really testing it at the moment.

That’s not all down to his tactics or his personnel decisions. His comments in the post-game press conference yesterday, where he pointed to mistakes from his players being a product of the tense atmosphere in the stadium.

To be clear, all managers test fans’ patience from time to time, this is just the latest example. But the coach’s decision to put some blame on the “environment” created by fans was just so ill-judged.

There is no need to be hysterical about it, but there’s also no need to let Maresca off the hook too easily. He said what he said, and while he’s not trying to say it’s the fans’ fault directly, he can’t deny he’s drawn a connection between the atmosphere in the stadium and the mistakes which led to goals.

On the London is Blue podcast, they discussed Maresca’s comments in detail.

You can see them discussing the coach’s comments in the clip embedded here:

Maresca puts his foot in his mouth again with ill-judged atmosphere comments

Enzo Maresca on the touchline. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

“I think the audacity to make your system and your players not responsible for the actions on the field, to make this about the atmosphere, the audacity to mention that the crowd might be upset in that moment, is insane,” presenter Nick Verlaney said.

“Your team, playing your system, screwed up. It’s not the fans’ fault. I’m sorry. I believe he should be given a bit of grace. But bro, we’re not the ones conducting the training, we’re not the ones that are telling you what to do on a matchday, we’re not the ones picking the lineups. Your team needs to play better. And it’s up to you, not us. Period.”