Chelsea's bulky squad and the pressure on Enzo Maresca

The preparation phase for Chelsea's new 2024-2025 season did not go too smoothly. And this will probably leave new head coach Enzo Maresca with more questions than answers. As the Italian strategist tries to find coherence from a bulky squad, new recruits continuously arrive at Stamford Bridge.

Pedro Neto, introduced in Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Inter Milan, is the Blues' newest recruit and the 10th recruit in the 2024 summer transfer window. If coach Maresca is included, the number will up to 11.

For a football club, this seems like a mess. Maresca has a clear style, demonstrated when Leicester won the Championship last season. However, that style has not yet been shown at Chelsea for many different reasons.

The Blues conceded 13 goals in 6 pre-season friendly matches. In those 6 matches, they only won one victory against the team from Mexico Club America. Maresca's army defended naively and continuously showed chaos on the field. More worryingly, their opponent on the opening day of the 2024-2025 Premier League will be Manchester City.

"One of my first meetings with the team was about the number of goals we conceded last year with a high defence.

Chelsea needs to play more carefully with a defense that has the habit of attacking high up like that. Is it a habit from last year or from previous years, I don't know. For now, we are trying to lower the defense a little bit, usually about 4 or 5 meters, to quickly have an advantage," Maresca said.

Maresca tried to apply a high pressing style as soon as he arrived at Chelsea. While the effect is still unclear, this has left the Blues in all kinds of trouble with a chaotic pre-season. Defensive mistakes caused them to concede 2 goals against Wrexham, 4 goals against Celtic and 4 more goals against Man City.

It feels like Maresca still doesn't know what to do with Chelsea's bloated player list. According to updates on the Blues website, the number of Maresca's students has reached 41 people. Just helping all these faces understand his philosophy is a challenge for Maresca.

That said, despite investing a lot of money and a talented coach, the day Chelsea regains its glory is still far away...