Only two managers have completed a full season at Chelsea since Clearlake Capital took over. In this one, we will be pitting those two coaches together as we look at Enzo Maresca vs Mauricio Pochettino and discuss who did better based on available statistics.
Enzo Maresca vs Mauricio Pochettino By the Numbers
Winning
When managing a big club like this, the onus is on getting the job done on the pitch. Pochettino managed to scrape sixth and reached two finals during his time in London by winning 51% of his potential matches. This did look pretty good at the time, especially coming off of the disaster of the Thomas Tuchel/Graham Potter year.
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With big shoes to fill and expectations at a high, Maresca came in and did even better, nabbing a fourth-place finish in the league and winning an impressive 61% of his matches in charge. The current manager also edges out his competitor on one key number: trophies. The Italian won a trophy compared to the trophyless year that the USA coach had.
Goalscoring
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Known for this high-octane style of football, the former Tottenham Hotspur man brought a chaotic feel to his matches in charge of Chelsea. There were some unforgettable results like a 4-4 with Manchester City and a late 4-3 win over Manchester United. Pochettino’s team in the league averaged an xG per game of 1.6 and proved very clinical by scoring 2.03 per match. They won 12 penalites across the campaign, taking almost 12 shots a match and converting at a rate of 17%.
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Shockingly, after switching to the more controlled stylings of the former Leicester City coach, the team’s xG per 90 actually went up for the 2024/25 term. A 1.78 xG was regularly underperformed as the squad netted 1.68 per outing. Shot creation actually increased to 14.4 with conversion rates dropping to 12% and proving costly to their early title ambitions.
Defensive
One main reason the Italian was appointed was to bring some control to matches. Clearlake and their decision makers believe that a possession-heavy manager and squad is the key to eventual success. How has this switch worked out for them in reality? The more possession-focused approach brought with it a 1.26 xG against per match, which was overperformed as they let in just 1.13 per 90 in the league.
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This is compared to the more chaotic approach of his predecessor who oversaw a league campaign where his team averaged an xG against of 1.51 per match which they underperformed to let in 1.66, that’s an average of conceding almost two per game under the Argentine.
The number of clean sheets shot up as you would expect, going from eight shared between Rob Sanchez and Djordje Petrovic to 11 from Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen in the latest term.
Who Wins?
When diving into the numbers, it’s hard to argue against the switch made by Clearlake. While yes, Pochettino’s style of play was exciting and on the surface appeared to be more successful, the actual details bare out that his replacement was let down by poor finishing. Statistically, the move to a more controlled style actually improved Chelsea’s xG and shot creation.
There was a big turnaround defensively as you’d expect with the squad allowing less xG and keeping more clean sheets under the Italian coach. Add in the fact that Maresca won a trophy and got top four and it’s hard not to declare him the winner in this one.