After Chelsea suffered a late 2-1 defeat to Sunderland in the Premier League at the weekend, Gary Neville has questioned whether Enzo Maresca is really a top manager.
Under Maresca’s guidance, Chelsea have endured a mixed start to the ongoing Premier League season, and it hit a new low as they slumped to a shock defeat against the newly promoted side.
The result means that the Blues currently sit in ninth in the table, winning just four of their first nine games of the season.
It also means that Chelsea have been unable to find consistency and build on the positive run of form they enjoyed going into the game.
Chelsea had won their four previous games in all competitions, and while Maresca is dealing with injuries, the excuses are beginning to wear thin, according to top pundits.
Neville, for one, called out the team’s poor performance on Saturday and questioned Maresca’s credentials as a manager as he reviewed the team’s start to the season so far.
📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Gary Neville doubts whether Enzo Maresca is good enough to be Chelsea manager
According to Neville, Chelsea is one of the clubs lacking consistency and he questioned the quality of the managers in and around the top flight.
Enzo Maresca
Getty
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.”
While it's hard to disagree with Neville’s assessment of Chelsea, Maresca will also have to take part of the blame for the defeat to Sunderland at the weekend.
The Italian manager’s decision to substitute 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.
Chelsea news and related links