It’s now four games without a win for Enzo Maresca and Chelsea.
The Blues’ latest European excursion hasn’t gone as they would have hoped.
Atalanta dispatched Chelsea with relative ease, making automatic qualification to the Champions League knockout stages a tall task with just two games left in the league phase.
Maresca was criticised by Chelsea fans for some of the personnel decisions he made that many feel were ill-informed.
The performances have been flat, injuries haven’t helped, but the real issue with Chelsea of late is how much the team suffers when Maresca does something that was far more effective last season.
A 12-year run snapped by Atalanta…
Bonus points if you can tell us who was managing Chelsea the last time this happened 👀
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Enzo Maresca is rotating too much at Chelsea
Last season, this Chelsea squad was a year younger and fairly new as a group. They accomplished so much, winning the Conference League and Club World Cup, while also qualifying for the Champions League.
But it’s exactly that step up in European competition that has made what worked well last year just not feasible now.
The Athletic released a report on Chelsea’s rotation habits. Across all competitions, Maresca has made 119 changes to the starting XI in 23 games.
That’s an average of more than five per game — the most of any Premier League side.
Sure, Chelsea have a deeper squad than most, but not deep enough to sustain this rate of change.
Last season, while in the third tier of European football, Maresca could get away with resting his stars.
This season, though, it feels like any game that’s not against an elite side will be a struggle, and that’s largely down to the lineup selections he makes. Some of these fringe players just aren’t good enough to be starting as often as they do.
Chelsea need to make room before they can sign another centre-back. Who are you getting rid of?
Levi Colwill is definitely untouchable ❌
Chelsea’s list of first-team centre-backs
Levi Colwill
Wesley Fofana
Trevoh Chalobah
Benoit Badiashile
Tosin Adarabioyo
Josh Acheampong
Trevoh Chalobah of Chelsea celebrates scoring his team's goal with teammate Wesley Fofana
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
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One point from the trips to Qarabag and Atalanta just isn’t good enough, especially when Chelsea haven’t managed an away win in the Champions League since 2022.
Maresca addressed these concerns after Atalanta
This is no groundbreaking take. It was the common topic of conversation on Tuesday night.
In his post-match press conference, Maresca was asked if this rotation policy is working.
Enzo Maresca sat in the Chelsea dugout for a pre-season friendly.
Photo by Chelsea Football Club/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
As Football London report, he responded: “I think tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that they play against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, Arsenal.
“I mean, we had eight, nine players that they are the ones that they are playing every time, these kind of games.”
He’s right about that, but it fails to address the point.
The games mentioned — Barcelona, Arsenal, Tottenham — are not the issue. The issue is games against Leeds, Bournemouth, Qarabag, Atalanta.
Maresca seems to be claiming that he isn’t rotating as much as we think, but the numbers don’t lie.
No one has doubted his ability to win big games since arriving at Stamford Bridge. It’s the little ones that are catching them, and they’re often just as important.
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