How Enzo Maresca left Stamford Bridge

The tension behind closed doors at Chelsea resulted in Enzo Maresca being fired.

The root of the problem was the disagreement between coach Enzo Maresca and his sporting  directors who masterminded the “Chelsea Project” which relies on bringing in young talented players from European clubs and promoting from inside the Cobham Academy.

Josh Acheampong is the type of academy talent coming through and establishing himself in the first team.

Maresca agreed with the policy but said quite strongly that the team also needs to bring in experienced players to give them better balance. The discord got worse and was highlighted by Chelsea’s recent run of poor results particularly in games where they have surrendered the lead and this said Maresca was because of the younger players not being able to produce mature performances for 90 minutes.

Chelsea, however, have taken over and showed him the exit door. He said that “many people” were responsible for his “worst 24 hours” since joining the club in 2024. This was assumed to be pointed at the directors of the club and even surprised his assistants and players.

Transfer window opens wide

The transfer window has swung wide open and players and clubs are lining up to take advantage. The big transfer story this time around is Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo moving to City where he will work with Pep Guardiola, arguably the best coach in football. What the Ghanaian brings to a team is versatility, energy, skill, commitment and he is a leader both on the field and in the dressing room. However, it is not a certainty he will play every week. Operating on both wings launches him into competition with Jeremy Doku on the left and Savinho on the right. Bournemouth players moving up to a bigger clubs do not always blend in immediately as Milos Kerkez discovered after joining Liverpool.

Thomas Frank, the set-piece master

When Tottenham signed Thomas Frank after sacking Ange Postecoglou they wanted the same ingredients from their team as the supporters on the terraces who begged for entertainment and exciting football.

What concerned them was how Frank set up his Brentford team…set-pieces, stats and hopeful breakaway football. He is a manager who concentrates on minor details and is tactically clever but it didn’t start well.

Early games against bitter rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves were frankly terrible, lack-lustre and Tottenham were low on energy.

Frank has done everything he could to bond with the fans and he is a very nice guy, friendly, helpful and approachable. The club saw a vision of the future when they interviewed him and with his character and personality it is hardly surprising that the board of directors decided that here was a man who could bring back the White Hart Lane glory days to the new London Hotspur Stadium.

At Brentford Frank was ahead of the curve as he introduced successful set-pieces and he has done the same at Tottenham. Hours and hours on the training field have given Tottenham an edge and last weekend that tactic won the game against Crystal Palace in what was their ninth dead ball situation goal.

Frimpong excelling for

Liverpool

When Liverpool signed Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen much was expected from him to set games alight with his goal scoring ability. Red’s manager Arne Slot was lavish with his praise after the win over Wolves, which we assumed was for Wirtz but then we realised that it was Jeremie Frimpong to whom he was referring although he was also kind about Wirtz.

Frimpong was originally brought in after Trent Alexander-Arnold left Anfield but he was considered cover for Conor Bradley. He was also considered as a player who could move forward in the line-up to cover Mo Salah’s Africa Cup of Nations absence.

Arne Slot and his assistants quickly realised that Frimpong could do several jobs at once. His blistering pace, moving past opponents and setting up a pathway to goal has highlighted his abilities. He is an exciting player to watch.

Amorim ditches his old tactics and plays 4-2-3-1

There was a joke going around Old Trafford that even the Pope couldn’t convince Ruben Amorim to change his Manchester United system but on the second day of Christmas he finally succumbed to the fans demand for something different. Out went his back three and in came his back four with the wing-backs no more. To be fair, it wasn’t an instant decision because he had worked on the new tactics with his assistants and defenders in training.

Six weeks came and went without United moving into fifth place in the league and finally they took their chance and now they are in the hunt for a Champions League place.

Sancho in danger of wasting his career

Jadon Sancho has played a total of 133 minutes since joining Aston Villa on loan this season.

Previously the 25 year-old spent last season on loan at Chelsea where he failed to impress starting 19 league matches and coming off the bench a dozen times. His time at Stamford Bridge was not a total failure but the fact that the Blues paid a £5million penalty to his club Manchester United, not to sign him permanently says it all really.

He spent the end of last season on Ruben Amorim’s “bomb squad” list of unwanted players but no bids arrived which meant he was confined to being loaned out. Finally he trod the path of his friend Marcus Rashford, also unwanted by Amorim at United, and joined Villa on loan. Unlike Rashford however the loan has not been particularly successful.

Villa coach Unai Emery is willing to persevere with Jadon and said, “Jadon is still young. He has had an amazing career and is now in a moment where he needs help to recover his best performances and form. I have this challenge with him. He has this challenge with me too. Of course, he is not playing all the minutes I think he should. But in the second half of the season I will use him more because I believe in him and he is working hard to prove himself.”

Manchester City vs Chelsea

The big one for this weekend sees a demoralised Chelsea visiting Pep Guardiola’s stronghold at the Etihad Stadium.

It all ended in tears for the Blues on Tuesday evening. Enzo Maresca was booed off the pitch and then fell ill and could not complete our post-match interview. He relied on Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez to score against a struggling Bournemouth side but they could do little to get ahead of the game in the second half. Chelsea find it difficult to play against the in-vogue long throw-ins and the defence struggled with Josh Acheampong, Trevoh Chalobah, Malo Gusto and Moises Caicedo all looking vulnerable. They do have Wesley Fofana back from injury but he cannot patrol the defence on his own.

Pep Guardiola spent Wednesday morning studying how Chelsea dealt with Bournemouth attacks and he must have been delighted at what he saw which was a poor defence.

Alejandro Garnacho continues to disappoint but with Cole Palmer now back and Estevao Willian playing well, Chelsea have a chance, albeit a slim one, of beating City.

Pep Guardiola knows well that if Chelsea’s defence plays poorly again, Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden will tear them to shreds.

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