Todd Boehly might have already made his latest mistake in charge of Chelsea, the worrying thing is he doesn’t even know it yet.
It’s been a rocky start to life as Chelsea’s co-owner for Boehly, who despite splashing astronomical sums of money since completing the takeover, results on the pitch have been hard to come by.
There had been hope that Chelsea were turning a corner earlier this season when they raced out of the blocks and looked as if they might challenge runaway leaders Liverpool.
Instead, as the winter began to set in, Chelsea’s results started to go in the opposite direction.
After winning five straight Premier League matches between November and mid-December, Chelsea have managed just two league wins since – both of which came against teams embroiled in relegation battles.
Last week’s double dose of Brighton misery was a particularly low point for Chelsea supporters, who have already started to question the managers’ methods.
Enzo Maresca was ushered in as the sixth – permanent or caretaker – manager of the Boehly reign at the beginning of the current campaign on the back of winning the Championship with Leicester last term.
Eyebrows had been raised by the appointment, with critics questioning whether going from second-tier football to Champions League-chasing Chelsea would be a suitable match.
But regardless of Maresca’s short-term returns this season, Chelsea could be sleepwalking into an even bigger problem, given the current trajectory of football tactics and the way the game is being played.
Maresca is a Pep Guardiola disciple, with the Italian coach having been part of the backroom staff that guided Manchester City to a historic Treble in 2023.
The similarities between the two are clear to see, with Maresca having opted for a possession-heavy style of play at Stamford Bridge, coupled with a set-up that sees his goalkeeper and defenders religiously stick to playing out from the back.
But across the current season, general football trends appear to be moving away from the methods Maresca has often lived and died by throughout his – admittedly short – coaching career.
The most prominent example has been City’s fall-off from winning four Premier League titles in a row, to languishing outside the top-four.
There are plenty of factors surrounding City’s struggles, but there has been a noticeable shift to less-controlled styles of play and more solidity at the back and directness up front.
Even Guardiola himself has leaned into this by playing long towards Erling Haaland – something Chelsea found out about themselves during the pair’s recent meeting.
The sample size is small and perhaps over the next five years, ball-dominant set-ups return to fashion and maybe Maresca himself is at the forefront of that.
But if that doesn’t prove the case and Boehly hinged the latest rebuild on a manager wedded to an out-of-date style of play, Chelsea could be staring down the barrel of another change in the dugout.
