Chelsea files: Why Maresca’s tactical rethink is bearing fruit and how club’s top priority will be made clear this week

IT’S been another eventful season down the King’s Road.

Having flirted with the title race, Enzo Maresca’s men are now fighting tooth and nail for Champions League qualification while also competing in Europe.

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Enzo Maresca’s side are fighting for European qualification[/caption]

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The Blues thumped Southampton 4-0 last week[/caption]

Starting today, only on Sun Club, our team of experts will bring you the inside track on Stamford Bridge goings on every week.

TO THE LEFT

EXPECT TO see Enzo Maresca dressing more to the left from now on.

Chelsea‘s astute manager is being tipped to have a tactical rethink as the fashion for inverted full backs grips the Premier League.

And once-maligned left-back Marc Cucurella is at the heart of the Italian’s remodelling as he looks to make his team a more potent force at both ends of the pitch.

For some time Chelsea would drag whoever was playing right-back into the midfield to add weight to attacks.

That would be mainly Malo Gusto or when fit club captain Reece James. 

But Maresca has been fine-tuning Cucurella to do it from the opposite flank and senior staff at the training ground are noticing.

Cucurella has risen to the manager’s challenge and now has three Premier League goals this season as a result. James has just one and Gusto none in comparison.

The added bonus of employing Cucu in this way means the defence shifts left and not right – which seems to suit everyone.

In the case of the last game – the 4-0 drubbing of Southampton in which Cucurella scored the final goal – it meant Levi Colwill could move left and allow Tosin to occupy the centre-back role.

This made for an entirely more comfortable night all round and the tactical tweak looks set to stay.

THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

COLE Palmer’s role when Chelsea resume their Conference League campaign on Thursday will be a clear sign of Enzo Maresca’s priorities.

The England star was omitted from the 25-man squad for the group phase of the competition before Christmas.

That allowed him some rest through the autumn and early winter demands and was rewarded by a series of stellar displays.

Chelsea were unbeaten in their eight matches immediately following European games and were second in the Premier League at the conclusion of the initial Conference League stage in December.

But Palmer has played all 12 matches since then, scoring just three goals and adding no assists after 11 goals and six assists up to that point.

The former Manchester City man was added to the Blues squad for the knock-out stage.

But with Chelsea expected to negotiate last 16 opponents Copenhagen, leaving him out of the starting side would be a signal that a top four finish is the bigger goal than Europe’s third competition.

However selecting him for Thursday’s game would signal that Maresca buys into the philosophy that Chelsea need to start winning trophies again.

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Cole Palmer will be hoping to rediscover his very best form[/caption]

DJORD DROPPING

ONE of Enzo Maresca‘s biggest headaches this season has been in goal.

Neither Robert Sanchez or summer signing Filip Jorgensen have managed to step up and grab the No1 spot for themselves.

Meanwhile, at sister club Strasbourg last season’s No1 is making quite the impact.

Djordje Petrovic, sent on loan to improve his ability on the ball, has kept four straight clean sheets and boss Liam Rosenior has touted him for a big future.

Rosenior said: “Petrovic is getting better by the day. It’s very important in our game system.

“He is only 25 years old and will become a great player.”

Maresca may find that the Serbian is a cheap solution to a big problem this summer.

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Djordje Petrovic has impressed for Strasbourg this season[/caption]

EXTENDING AN ARM

ARMANDO Broja has had a lot of luck during his career – most of it bad.

The 23-year-old striker is currently injured on his latest loan at Everton. 

He moved there last September after an equally disappointing temporary move to Fulham where he barely played.

The Albanian also spent nearly a year on the sidelines between December 2022 and September 2023 after tearing knee ligaments.

But there is still hope he can make a go of it on Merseyside.

Everton boss David Moyes has told staff at the club that he does not want to make any decisions on Broja’s future – short or long term – until he has actually seen him play.

Broja may just be back in time to feature at the end of this season and get the chance to seal a permanent move away from Chelsea in the summer.

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Armando Broja has endured a luckless spell at Everton[/caption]

SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT

TODD BOEHLY’S state of the nation address regarding Chelsea last week has been met with a resigned shrug of the shoulders by many fans.

In the wake of a pre-match protest taking aim at his near three year involvement in the club, many were hoping for stronger words from the American who jointly led the takeover at Stamford Bridge alongside now estranged business partner Behdad Eghbali.

Around 150 diehards took to the streets outside Stamford Bridge last Tuesday to voice their displeasure. 

At what exactly is just as big a talking point among the fanbase, with some believing their fellow Blues may have become a bit too used to glittery success over the years.

Even so, speaking some days after at the suitably thrill-a-minute sounding FT Business of Football Summit, Boehly conceded ‘criticism is par for the course’ and once you get your head around that ‘it brings freedom’. That’s neither fight nor flight.

The wet-lettuce words may well have done the trick though. 

It appears there are no plans yet for further demos. Maybe because Boehly’s inert sermon made up of American-ese business inspired babble has snuffed the life out of the anti-Todd brigade like two damp fingers pinching a small candle flame.

One prominent fans figure at The Bridge told SunSport: “There is too much entitlement and revisionment. We haven’t challenged for the title since Antonio Conte was manager.

“Chelsea is a business now, not a toy. It’s very different now to life under Roman Abramovich and that change is hard for some to accept.”

The knot of fans who gathered outside the gates to Chelsea’s home ground last week chanted for their former owner, now sanctioned by the UK Government over his links to Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin.

They also sang for former bosses Jose Mourinho and Thomas Tuchel. Conte’s name was skipped even though he is the last manager to win the Premier League for the club.

It’s healthy for fans to hold their club’s owners to account but having spent £1billion plus on players and with Chelsea still sitting inside the top eight on the night of the protest, there is a feeling among more ‘experienced’ followers of the club that the younger, more recent arrivals need to get a grip.

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Chelsea supporters protested outside Stamford Bridge last week[/caption]

HOME AND AWAY

BOEHLY is finding out the hard way that developing the Blues’ home is a much harder task than it was with his Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

Despite MLB sides playing 81 home games in the regular season, there are no matches between October and March.

That is in stark contrast with a Premier League campaign running from the start of August to the end of May and Boehly conceded: “The thing you learn about football is how little down-time there is.

“When we renovated Dodger Stadium, we had a lot more time to affect change than in the football season. There’s a lot less down-time and that makes it a little harder.”

Former owner Roman Abramovich pulled the plug on a planned £1bn revamp of the Bridge, Chelsea’s home since 1905, in 2018 after he was refused an extension on his special “investor” visa.

That came after proposals to potentially move to sites at Old Oak Common near Wormwood Scrubs, Earls Court and Battersea Power Station were dropped.

One extra complication is that the freehold of the Bridge playing surface is owned by the Chelsea Pitch Owners, who can prevent the club using the name “Chelsea” if a move takes place without their consent.

But Boehly appears to feel either a move or a major rebuild is both necessary and inevitable – even if it means Chelsea having to play FOUR seasons or more away from SW6. 

He added: “If you think about what ultimately the drivers are, of building a self-sustaining, very competitive club, figuring how to increase revenues is part and parcel of success.

“So you have to be very mindful of how you continue to do that.”

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Todd Boehly has spoken about Chelsea’s potential stadium renovation[/caption]

WIN-WIN DEAL

COLE PALMER’S move to Stamford Bridge was win-win for both Chelsea and Manchester City – according to the man at the heart of the £40m deal.

Palmer has scored 39 games in just 75 games for the Blues since his switch.

And long-standing agent Frank Trimboli, who brokered the move, recalled: “When it came to the Palmer deal, Manchester City understood the value of the player but they had a lot of players that they could use and play.

“So they also knew his future value would be high and given the amount of football Cole had played for City it was still a high number.

“There were people at Chelsea who had previously worked at City, so they knew what they were buying and credit to Chelsea because they were willing to put the money on the table.

“And 18 months after the deal, that £40m looks like money well spent.”

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Cole Palmer has been a smash hit at Chelsea[/caption]

TOOTH ACHE

FRANK LAMPARD still feels the pain from the ‘kick in the teeth’ when Chelsea sacked him.

Even though the club’s legendary midfielder and former boss is now flying high with promotion chasing Coventry – it still hurts.

Lampard was hired and fired by Cheslea’s former owner Roman Abramovich within 18 months – getting the chop in January 2021 to make way for Thomas Tuchel.  

Lampard said: “In this job you understand that you will get some kicks in the teeth.

“I went in at Chelsea and was loving doing my job there, at a club that I clearly love.

“And when you lose your job – it’s the first time I lost my job – it’s a difficult moment and you have your own feelings about that, which I had and still have. 

“So, kicks in the teeth, unfortunately feel harsh at the time. 

“And when you look back, you understand that they’re part of life and they mould your future.”

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Frank Lampard has enjoyed a return to form at Coventry[/caption]