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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jacob Steinberg

Maresca plays dangerous game as confusion reigns after his Chelsea grenade

The Chelsea head coach, Enzo Maresca, smiles after the Conference League final win against Real Betis.
Enzo Maresca has downplayed links with Manchester City, where he was assistant to Pep Guardiola during the 2022-23 season. Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images

One of the theories doing the rounds this week is that Enzo Maresca is behaving like someone who wants to be sacked. He has stumbled into a fight he cannot win. It did not go down well with Chelsea when Maresca lobbed a grenade into the mix by talking about not being supported enough after last Saturday’s humdrum win against Everton and it is hard not to read his refusal to defuse the situation since then as the stance of a man daring his bosses to act.

Chelsea remain bemused by their head coach creating speculation that he has issues with the club’s hierarchy by saying that the 48 hours before the Everton game had been his worst since joining the club. Sources say the outburst even caught people close to Maresca by surprise. Confusion reigns. It does not help that Maresca has publicly and privately rejected repeated opportunities to explain the source of his discontent, leaving it open for outsiders to assume that the Italian’s issues are with Chelsea’s hierarchy.

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