{"id":348124,"date":"2025-12-16T03:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/348124\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T03:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:55:11","slug":"enzo-maresca-had-chance-to-shut-down-talk-of-chelsea-rift-but-he-didnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/348124\/","title":{"rendered":"Enzo Maresca had chance to shut down talk of Chelsea rift \u2014 but he didn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days on from saying he had \u00adendured his \u201cworst 48 hours<\/a>\u201d since \u00adbecoming Chelsea\u2019s head coach, Enzo Maresca repeatedly refused to clarify his comments.<\/p>\n

Maresca made the claim after the 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday, saying that the preceding 48 hours had been the worst since he joined Chelsea in June 2024 \u201cbecause many people didn\u2019t support us\u201d. He refused to explain to whom he was referring, inviting \u00adsuspicion that he had fallen out with the Chelsea<\/a> hierarchy.<\/p>\n

On Monday, in a tense press conference before Chelsea\u2019s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Cardiff City on Tuesday, Maresca<\/a> did nothing to quash the theories. In 20 minutes he fielded 20 questions relating to his declaration on Saturday, and responded to them with less than 400 words in total.<\/p>\n

\"Malo<\/p>\n

Gusto scored in Chelsea\u2019s win against Everton but the result did not appear to do much to improve Maresca\u2019s mood<\/p>\n

SEBASTIAN FREJ\/MB MEDIA\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

On his relationship with Chelsea\u2019s owners, Maresca said: \u201cIt\u2019s OK. It\u2019s good.\u201d When asked whether it was as good as it\u2019s always been, he answered: \u201cI think so, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other answers were equally brief. When asked whether he regretted what he said, or to confirm that he would not retract his statement, Maresca said he had \u201cnothing to add\u201d.<\/p>\n

Questions on \u00adprecisely what he meant on Saturday, his motives for not talking about the \u00adincident on Monday, whether he had \u00adexplained what he meant to figures within the club and why he chose Saturday to speak out all received similar responses.<\/p>\n

When asked if Chelsea supporters deserved an explanation, the 45-year-old said: \u201cI said after the game that I love the Chelsea support. They \u00addeserve the best.\u201d He then insisted he was happy and 100 per cent committed to the club.<\/p>\n

\"London,<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s excellent performances against top teams have been followed by mediocre displays against lesser opposition<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

In his longest answer on the matter he emphasised that it was \u201cdone\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can speak Italian, my language, Spanish very well, French very well and English more or less,\u201d he said. \u201cI think when I want to say something, I\u2019m quite clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already spoke after the game. I don\u2019t need to add more. If you want, I can try in Italian, Spanish, French, so you\u2019re all aware. It\u2019s done, it\u2019s finished. It was after the game. I said what I said. Now it\u2019s focus on Cardiff.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Maresca\u2019s refusal to \u00addiscuss the matter did not help to \u00addismiss suggestions that his relationship with his superiors at Chelsea is strained. When given the opportunity to address or play down the fallout, the Italian declined.<\/p>\n

Maresca faced criticism in the \u00adbuild-up to the Everton game, which followed three underwhelming results. Chelsea were defeated away to \u00adAtalanta in the Champions League<\/a> after taking the lead, played out a \u00adgoalless draw away to Bournemouth and lost away to Leeds United. During the poor run, Maresca rotated his young squad considerably.<\/p>\n

\"Atalanta's<\/p>\n

Gianluca Scamacca scored as Atalanta recovered from going 1-0 down to defeat Chelsea 2-1 in the Champions League<\/p>\n

MICHELE MARAVIGLIA\/EPA<\/p>\n

These results eradicated talk of a league title push and the optimism at the start of \u00adDecember, when Chelsea were fresh off beating Barcelona and earning a creditable draw against \u00adArsenal despite playing with ten men.<\/p>\n

That Maresca\u2019s \u201cworst 48 hours\u201d comment came after a morale-boosting victory, and in response to a question about Malo Gusto\u2019s strong performance, suggests that it was a \u00adcalculated expression of frustration.<\/p>\n

Maresca also reiterated that Chelsea will reach their third semi-final in the 18 months since he took charge should they win at Cardiff. Chelsea won the Conference League and Club World Cup under him this year.<\/p>\n

Cole Palmer<\/a>, who returned to action against Leeds after three months out with groin and toe injuries, will not feature. Maresca said the England international is not yet ready to play two games only three days apart, and added that Chelsea will \u201cmake some changes\u201d to their XI as the busy festive period begins.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea's<\/p>\n

Maresca confirmed that Palmer, who scored on Saturday, will not be involved against Cardiff<\/p>\n

PETER CZIBORRA\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

Mois\u00e9s Caicedo is available again after serving a three-match suspension for his red card against Arsenal. Liam Delap (shoulder), Rom\u00e9o Lavia (thigh) and Levi Colwill (knee) are among those injured.<\/p>\n

Maresca is aware of the threat posed by Cardiff, who are top of League One and have little to lose against the team sitting fourth in the top flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the worst games for this reason,\u201d Maresca said. \u201cFootball is full of these kinds of games where the \u00adfavourite can lose. That\u2019s why we need to pay attention and the focus put on Cardiff.
\u201cAnd again, it can be the third semi-final in 18 months. That is \u00adsomething important.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Chelsea lose and fail to reach the last four, though, then scrutiny over Maresca\u2019s position will increase again.<\/p>\n

Cardiff City v Chelsea<\/p>\n

Carabao Cup quarter-final, Cardiff City Stadium
Tuesday, kick-off 8pm
TV Sky Sports Main Event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two days on from saying he had \u00adendured his \u201cworst 48 hours\u201d since \u00adbecoming Chelsea\u2019s head coach, Enzo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-348124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}