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The Chelsea manager cut his coaching teeth under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
City spent Christmas in very unfamiliar surroundings - at least in recent times - with last week’s 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa leaving them seventh on the big day and Guardiola now competing for a top-four place. Incredible runs of form had been central to their claiming of four consecutive Premier League titles but one win in 12 across all competitions is the kind of streak nobody expected.
Maresca worked under Guardiola at City during the 2022/23 treble-winning campaign but is now competing against his former mentor as Chelsea boss - not that he will admit his side are in a title race. And while many rivals had been willing City’s downfall for years, the club’s former assistant has hit back at those enjoying the misery.
Maresca defends Guardiola
“It makes me laugh when critics claim Pep is finished,” Maresca said. “I spoke with Pep yesterday and he is completely calm and knows exactly what has happened there. But the one thing we know in football is that because of the situation they have there, people are waiting for something bad to happen so they can be happy.
“When you see someone being so successful season after season, the moment they drop, people love to say: ‘Ah, look, he is not good enough.' But I don't think that is the correct thing to do. The reality is when you see somebody like Pep dominate for eight or nine years and suddenly the position changes quickly, it is not because someone is not good enough.
“It is because something has happened there. If you are involved in football you can see that with the amount of injuries they have this is not normal.”
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The Italian’s squad is one of the league’s most exciting but it is also young and relatively inexperienced, at least in terms of challenging for Premier League silverware. And Maresca believes that lack of experience will be the difference-maker come May.
“We are ahead of our expectations in terms of the way we are playing and in terms of points,” the Chelsea boss admitted. “Our main focus is to see how we can improve the players. It's not about the pressure. I would like to have that kind or pressure and hopefully we can have that pressure. The reality for me is we are not there.
“I think, for sure, the reality is we are second. It's almost halfway so probably the table reflect the teams where they are. Liverpool are doing fantastic since the first day. Probably the squad, they have already lived that kind of moment [to win a trophy]. You need to live that kind of moment to raise and be close. I think Manchester City at the end will be there.”
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