There’s has recently been a trend amongst top coaches in the English premier League, can you guess what it is?
Baldness.
Yes, baldness is seeming to be an underrated weapon of good coaches.
Arne Slot at Liverpool, Ten Hag back at Ajax and one of the greatest PL coaches of all time Pep Guardiola and now Italian Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea Football Club has seem to loose their top form since Champions League winning coach Thomas Tuchel was sacked back in September 2022.
The Blues have always been argued to be the best club in London over rivals Arsenal and Spurs boosting of six EPL titles, although less than Arsenal’s 13 but they happen to be the only club in London with multiple Champions league and Europa Leagues and they may be on their way to winning the Europa Conference league now.
The issues began at the start of the 22/23 season, coming from a UCL winning season, much was expected from the west London side however they failed to live up to expectations.
They dropped points for the first time at home playing host to Antonio Conte’s Tottenham. The derby was an epic one with Harry Kane scoring a 96th mins goal and both managers literally going head to head.
The first loss was at Elland road away at Leeds and in September after their 1-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb, Tuchel was sacked.
The then Brighton head coach Graham Potter was brought in. It is worthy of note to mention Tuchel was appointed by the then Abrahamovich lead era but sacked by new Todd Boehly.
Potter started well winning 5 of 6 games, having drawn one. But to the next 19 games, they only managed 4 wins and lost 8 times. At this point they had dropped to 11th position, Potter was sacked.
An interim coach Bruno Saltor was brought in then later Chelsea agreed on a short-term contract with legend and former head coach Frank Lampard.
Out of 9 games he managed one win, drew twice and lost six times. This lead to an embarrassing 12th place finish from the two time winning UCL side.
Their worst ever finish since 14th at the 1993/1994 season.
Sequel to the beginning of the 23/24 season, former Spurs and Paris Saint Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino was appointed.
The first half of the new season was also below par, they were in 10th position with 7 wins and 4 draws loosing 8 times however the things turned for the better in their final 15, loosing just once ending the season with five consecutive wins finishing sixth with star boy Cole Palmer scoring 25 times in all competitions.
To the blues this wasn’t a desired improvement as they lost the EFL final to a teenage side of Jurgen Klopp and were out in the semi’s in the FA cup.
Pochettino’s contract was mutually terminated after the season and the Blues surprisingly appointing former Guardiola’s assistant Enzo Maresca.
Maresca was coming from a Championship winning side of Leicester who just gained promotion to the EPL.
There was skepticism as to the appointment due to Maresca being unproven at the top level and inexperienced.
He was off to a rather not so subtle beginning having lost to a Pep Guardiola’s side in a game they dominated and seemed to have better chances but failed to convert.
However they bounced back beating Servette FC 2-0 in the UECL qualifying round, they’ve been flying ever since, a 6-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, 4-2 against Brighton and Hove Albion, although disappointing draw against Crystal Palace, it is evidently the Blues are much better.
After 8 games in the league, they sit 6th on 14 points although 4 points off the top 3, there has been a significant improvement in their style of play.
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea has scored 17 goals in the EPL only behind City and Spurs on 19 and 18 respectively.
Their squad is stacked with attacker from Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Noni Madueke, Joao Felix, etc and star boy Cole Palmer who scored 4 goals in the first half against Brighton and provided three assists for Madueke against Wolves.
Defensively some more work needs to be done as they seem to concede even in games they dominate, against Panathinaikos and Genk in the UECL.
If this Chelsea team can convert more of their chances there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be PL contenders, although Maresca says his team is inexperienced and young, one can not disregard their dominant play against top PL clubs like Liverpool and City.
Both games were lost due to inexperience.
In terms of squad depth they rank amongst the best in the league, domestic cups and the UECL.
Chelsea fans can start to dream, Enzo Maresca seems to bring back the good old days, only if he can build on what he’s done and also improve upon it.
What are your thoughts?
Can the bald Italian bring back glory to Stamford Bridge?
Can Enzo Maresca be the chosen one for Chelsea FC?
