Enzo Maresca was absolutely delighted with the achievement of his Chelsea players as the final whistle was blown on his first season as a Premier League manager.
The Blues confirmed their return to the Champions League after beating Nottingham Forest thanks to a goal from Cobham graduate Levi Colwill.
Maresca went straight to Reece James at the end of the game to celebrate, with his management of the club captain arguably his greatest achievement of the season.
Very few had belief that the Blues would get the result they needed at the City Ground. Amongst the doubters, Jamie Carragher didn’t believe Chelsea had the bottle to get the job done.
Photo by Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Enzo Maresca told to ‘keep his mouth closed’ after Chelsea secure Champions League
The very public scathing of his team clearly irked Maresca, who made sure he reminded everyone of what people were saying before the game in his post-match comments.
This hasn’t gone down well with everyone, and while the Italian had the last laugh this season, pundit Steve Nicol told ESPN FC that he needs to refrain from getting involved in this kind of debate in the future.
He said: “He needs to be careful, because these journalists never forget. They found a way at the end of the season, because they were as bad today as they’ve been in the last four or five weeks, but they’ve got results, and that’s what it’s about.
“But it could have been so different. If Chris Wood scores in the first half, we could be talking a whole different ball game.
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“But Maresca needs to be careful, keep your mouth closed again. People are just waiting for you to make a mistake now.”
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Maresca shows signs of Chelsea legend on final day of the season
Chelsea abandoned their gameplan for the entire season when it came to the game against Forest, and instead relied on resolute defending and taking their big chance when it came their way.
Maresca got this spot on, showing a side to his game that many hadn’t seen before, and one that will draw comparisons to a former Blues manager.
The performance had shades of Jose Mourinho about it, with the backing of his players and jibes at the media to match too.
The Blues boss has certainly not had all sides of the fanbase behind him this season, however has surely now proven that he is the right man to lead this exciting project into the future.