Gary Neville has questioned whether Enzo Maresca is really a top manager when discussing Chelsea’s start to the 2025/26 Premier League season.
The Blues currently sit down in ninth in the table, winning just four of their first nine games of the season.
The Blues suffered a last-minute defeat at Stamford Bridge at the hands of Sunderland, as frustration continued to grow amongst home supporters at their inability to build on positive runs of form.
Chelsea had won their four games before this one in all competitions, and while Maresca is dealing with injuries, the excuses are beginning to wear thin as far as top pundits are concerned.
Enzo Maresca looks on during Chelsea vs Sunderland
Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images
Gary Neville questions if Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is good enough
Neville highlighted Chelsea’s consistency problems as a common theme amongst some of the big Premier League clubs right now, and questioned whether the quality of the managers is high enough around the top flight.
He said: “Chelsea, again, inconsistent. I mean what you want in life from everybody that you work with is consistency and reliability, particularly at the top level in a high-performance environment. We’re talking about all these teams. Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, they’ve all been inconsistent in parts of this season and they need to try and find that.
“Chelsea I thought were fantastic against Liverpool a few weeks ago. I thought they were awful a week or two before that at Old Trafford. That’s not good enough. The money that has been spent on these squads, the managers have to get more out of them.
“Is it the players that have been recruited, or is it the managers that have dropped off? I think we’re seeing that. I know Pep’s still here, but there’s no doubt there was a period 5/6 years ago when the managers were all the very best in Europe, and when those managers have left one by one, football just drops.
“For Chelsea, they’ll be really frustrated. They’re up and down like a yo-yo.”
Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion - Premier League
Photo by Zohaib Alam – MUFC/Manchester United via Getty Images
Enzo Maresca must take his share of the blame for defeat to Sunderland
While the players put in a poor performance at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, the manager certainly takes a share of the criticism for a nightmare outing for the Blues.
Maresca’s decision to sub off Alejandro Garnacho was scrutinised by Chelsea fans, with the Argentine scoring his first goal for the club in the game.
The Blues also conceded a goal from a long throw-in again, the exact style of goal which stung them late on against Brentford.
Despite reports Chelsea had worked on defending long throws, this work seems to have gone to waste as it let their opponents back into the game, ultimately costing them the three points.