Enzo Maresca did some things much better than his predecessor as Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino.
But one thing he did very much worse was getting the best out of Cole Palmer. The Sun have compared the games played by the attacker under both managers, and the results are clear. You can see the data in the image embedded below.
Palmer’s stats drop under Maresca – Rosenior needs him back
As you can see Palmer, was worse per 90 minutes in goals, assists, xG, shots, shots on target, chances created, dribbles completed and touches.
That could be seen in a positive way – Maresca’s team was certainly less of a one man team than Pochettino. But given the squad the Italian had more quality and was more settled and experienced than the chaotic group that Pochettino inherited, one wonders where the team would be at this point had he stayed in charge.
There’s also the argument that Palmer just had an insane spell of form which saw every shot fly in under Poch, and it was actually somewhat unrelated to the manager’s tactics and management.
We’ll never know. In any case, both are history now, and it’s Liam Rosenior’s turn to try and build a team that maximises Palmer without being reliant upon him. We’re likely to get our first clue as to how he will do that when we see the team that lines up against Arsenal tomorrow night.
In other news…
Rio Ferdinand has also called on Rosenior to work out how to get the best out of Palmer – something we would all like to see.
The London is Blue podcast had similar questions about Palmer – where is he going to fit in, and how does the boss get the most out of him? It’s the thing we’re all looking forward to about tomorrow.
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