Pundit Jamie Carragher picked out Ben Johnson’s goal for Ipswich on Sunday, the second of the game, to analyse on Monday Night Football in order to illustrate that “there is no connection” between Chelsea supporters and Enzo Maresca.
“Maresca, down here – the manager, he’s instructing Palmer to get higher up and keep an eye on the goalkeeper but just listen to the noise from the crowd (boos),” said Carragher.
“That’s because they don’t want them to play out from the back, you can see the goalkeeper urging everybody up and at one stage, telling the crowd to calm down.
“So he’s been influenced by the crowd so he’s said, ‘push up’ and that’s when there’s the chant from the crowd, ‘attack, attack, attack’.
“But what Maresca is talking about is that this is not a team who are not used to going direct, the first thing the goalkeeper does is put it on the head of Burgess, the best headerer of the ball in their defence – so that’s a mistake.
“Then the positional play of the players, again maybe not used to going long from a goalkick.
“Fernandez, in the wrong position with an Ipswich player behind him, and Chalobah’s position is absolutely ridiculous.
“For a player at this level, if I said to you where is he playing? I’d say, ‘Chalobah is playing a centre-back in a back four and the right-back is getting treatment, he’s off the pitch.
“He’s actually at right-back in a back four, there’s your left-back, centre-back, centre-back, right-back – that is just ridiculous, the position he finds himself in.
“So they’re not set-up to do it, Ipswich win the header and before you know it, because of the positional play, huge space here, in behind Chalobah and finishes with Ben Johnson at the back post putting them 2-0 up.
“Again, it all just smacks from the disconnection from the supporters onto the pitch.
“Look at Fernandez, look at Caicedo, they’re screaming at Sanchez, ‘don’t be influenced by the crowd, don’t be influenced by it’.
“But that’s right you shouldn’t be influenced by it or do as they say, but it tells you there is no connection between Chelsea supporters or the man in the dugout.”
“It’s a massive blow, that,” Carragher goes on to say when asked about Chelsea’s dropped points at home. “It’s not just the two points they miss out on, it’s one of those fixtures that you look at on paper and think ‘that’s a guaranteed three points,’ because Chelsea have got really tough fixtures between now and the end of the season.
“I don’t see them making the Champions League. I don’t see it. I keep talking about connection but you see it with Newcastle and the supporters and players.
“You’ll see it with Forest as well, they’ll still have that, they’ll still be fighting to get their team over the line. I don’t think we see that with Chelsea right now, I don’t think there’s any real connection between the manager and the supporters there… I fear for Chelsea in terms of making Champions League football.”
Carragher is absolutely SPOT ON here. But this is exactly what I predicted the moment Maresca’s appointment was confirmed.
I researched his style of play, I researched how little experience he came in with, and I saw Maurizio Sarri all over again in terms of fan connection. The fans were just never going to accept him unless he came in and absolutely banged, which was NEVER going to happen with the very incomplete squad build that he is working with.
By the way, fans are not just saying ‘lump it forward’ every time a goalkeeper or a defender has the ball by the way. I know a lot of these fans and speak to them regularly. They just want to see a varied style of play rather than being so predictable every single time and also, they know how vulnerable and bad we are playing out from the back when Robert Sanchez is passing to the opposition 45% of the time! They think it puts us under more risk of conceding a goal or a big chance, which it often does. They are not saying to lump it up to Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer, who are far from dominant in the air, they are just looking for a bit more variation and flexibility in the play. I remember one game recently when Pedro Neto was up top and two of our biggest chances came from long angled passes up to him, not to his head, but over into the channels. That is what most fans are looking for, just a bit of unpredictability with our play and build up. Teams are getting better and better at defending playing it out from the back build ups.
I think we all know that the modern way of playing football now is passing out from the back, I don’t think any fan is saying we should not be doing this. I think they are just looking for some flexibility in our play. Why not try and catch your opponent out for once with a bit of variation?
I get what people say when they see a clip of Chelsea fans booing 15 minutes into a game. I don’t think that’s idea either. But you do need to look at the context of it. They’ve seen Sanchez’s awful distribution and they fear it every time we pass out from the back. Others around him are hardly convincing taking it short either. I don’t agree with booing unless for the extreme and it really is needed, but I also completely understand their frustrations. Every club in the Premier League will have fans booing them if they are doing something that the fans don’t like.
Players might get effected by that, but if the head coach is playing a style of play and believes in it, then they must all continue with it and I am NEVER having that the fans are the reason we conceded a goal. I’m sorry but when you’ve got professional football players out of position and ball-watching, yet you’re blaming fans being vocal for a goal being conceded, then you’re doing way more than just desperate straw-clutching. Fans are vocal at every single stadium in the world, it’s just normal. If Maresca believes in playing it our from the back every time, then he should not be instructing his goalkeeper to kick long instead just because fans are booing. Are you going to start playing in a different way because a pundit criticises your style of play in an article? No, you are not!
I knew from day one that the Stamford Bridge fans would not accept this style of football, because we have been there and seen it all before with managers like Sarri. Whether you think that is right or wrong, or fair or unfair, is irrelevant really because it will happen regardless.
This is why I was absolutely puzzled by the hire. He came with the ‘championship manager’ tag and for him to shake that off and be accepted by the Chelsea fan base on the whole, then he would need to be successful right away, play football that entertains the fans, and NOT start fights with them every other week. And he’s doing the opposite of all of that so far.
I predicted this would happen, and here we are, with six games left, and I honestly can’t see a way back for Maresca even if we do still make Champions League football and win the Conference League – I think for many fans it’s just too far gone and they just don’t like the guy now and hate his style of football.
Again, I am not here saying I agree or disagree with that, I am just writing this off the back of the fans I do speak to regularly, ones who go to the games.
Chelsea should have gone much safer with the manager appointment, but they wanted a certain type of manager and a young and inexperienced one, as they have based this whole project on. It was always a huge risk, as is this project, and at the moment, it’s backfiring immensely.
Chelsea fans might be demanding and have expectations, but you just need to remember what they are used to in modern history. It’s hard for them to be told to be patient season after season. They want to see proven winners with strong mentalities all over the pitch and especially in the dugout. If you want them to be patient, then you make the right hires and recruit the right players, and Chelsea have not done this.