“Their heads weren’t in it” – Enzo Maresca is failing his main job as Chelsea manager | OneFootball

We’ve heard today that there is increasing pressure on Enzo Maresca coming from within the squad.

Apparently some senior players (not that we really have any of those at the club) are concerned that the Italian coach isn’t the right man to get them into the Champions League. There are also concerns – as voiced by pundit Jamie Carragher – that these players may try to leave if things aren’t sorted out soon.

They discussed this on TalkSport’s Inside Chelsea show. Asked whether there were question marks about whether the players are still playing for their coach, Kweku Afari had an interesting answer.

You can see their discussion in the clip embedded here, with this question coming after 7 minutes:

Chelsea players showing low effort and no belief in latest games

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

“Last season around this time we went on a run under Mauricio Pochettino. But I just don’t see it at the moment with this squad. I see, especially in the second half [against Brighton] players who hadn’t just lost their heads, their heads just weren’t in it. They lost belief. Maybe that comes from a lack of experience… there’s nobody to pick this side up.”

The elephant in the room is of course that it’s Enzo Maresca’s main job, above all else in terms of tactical and technical coaching, to make sure his players do believe and are giving 100% in every game.

All in all it’s just incredibly worrying and we’re not sure how we dig ourselves out of this negative spiral. As Afari said, we went on a good run a year ago, but it’s much harder to imagine that happening now. Enzo Maresca seemed to have really good buy in from the players earlier this season, but his grip appears to be slipping.