Another season, another manager, another swarm of new faces; change is the norm at Chelsea these days, but will that finally bring positive results on the pitch in 2024-25?
Chelsea head into their third season under the Clearlake ownership with their fourth permanent manager in Enzo Maresca. Having guided Leicester City back to the Premier League last season as Championship winners, the Italian will look to use everything he has learnt in his short managerial career to succeed with a young Chelsea side that’s gone through a lot of change on and off the pitch in recent years.
You can barely read an article about Chelsea these days without ‘money spent’ and ‘billion’ being used to describe the comings and goings in terms of both players and non-playing staff, while the use of apparent Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) loopholes to avoid breaches has been a hot topic. Even so, the club appear unperturbed in fuelling these talking points as the sales and purchases continue, with the Blues signing no fewer than nine new players and several more notable names potentially still on their way out.
How Quickly Can Maresca Get His Style Across to the Players?
A lot has been made of the new manager’s philosophy, with a real spotlight on the style of play being implemented in pre-season friendlies. Given Maresca comes out of the Pep Guardiola ‘school’ of managers, it’s no surprise he prefers a slow build-up that can incorporate the goalkeeper when defenders are in possession, while a full-back then moves into midfield to create a 3-2-5 formation when the team has the ball.
Captain Reece James or Malo Gusto have been deployed in the inverted full-back role, which some may say doesn’t play to either of their strengths given their ability to cause so many problems in the final third as a conventional right-back. Of course, it’s early days and Maresca will have undoubtedly preferred more time to work with the players before the season’s opener; but such is the nature of top-level football, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see a full off-season break for all players ever again, especially given the expansion of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Therefore, we’ve effectively seen Chelsea players on a crash course in their six friendlies before facing defending champions Manchester City in their season opener on Sunday. This has been rather chaotic to say the least, leading to plenty of in-game mistakes on the ball and harsh lessons (hopefully) being learnt quickly. If Maresca’s side are going to start the season in anything like the form they ended 2023-24 with Mauricio Pochettino, this final week of preparations needs to be excellent.
How Different Will This Version of Chelsea Be Compared To Last Season?
This time last year, Pochettino was in a similar position to Maresca as he tried to implement his ideas on a young Chelsea side in time for the rigours of the Premier League.
An inconsistent start occurred with the Blues winning just one of their first five games (D2 L2), but they certainly improved in the new year as Chelsea suffered just one defeat in their final 15 league matches (W9 D5), reached the EFL Cup final and FA Cup semi-finals, and finished the 2023-24 season with five consecutive victories to secure sixth place. There were reasons to be positive and it’s quite possible those carry through to 2024-25 despite another summer of upheaval.
It’s well documented Chelsea will attempt to adopt a patient, possession-based style under Maresca, but when we take a closer look at Chelsea’s numbers from last season, the differences might not be as drastic as some think.
Looking at Chelsea and Leicester’s passes per sequence and the speed at which they moved up the pitch, there wasn’t a big difference in how both teams operated last season.
Considering how much attention there’s been on Chelsea’s build-up play (and the resulting errors) in the recent friendlies, you’d be led to believe they were smashing it long most of last season and what they’re now being asked to do is completely alien to them. But this really isn’t the case and there’s every reason to believe Chelsea could begin to find form and momentum as the season progresses once Maresca identifies his key players while piecing together their playing style.
Without the ball, Maresca doesn’t ask his players to press as high and aggressively as Pochettino had Chelsea doing in 2023-24. Although comparing a dominant, title-winning team in the Championship to a Premier League side can be tricky, the numbers suggest Chelsea averaged more pressed sequences (12.2 per game) than Leicester (11.3) last season, as well as more high turnovers per game (Chelsea – 9, Leicester – 7.9). Leicester were more clinical at turning those situations into goals, though, scoring 12 times (a league-high) to the Blues’ five, though the quality of the opposition would have influenced this.
Maresca appears to like his side sitting a little deeper and winning the ball back in the middle third as opposed to pressing high, with his Leicester side turning possession over in the middle third 23 times per game last season compared to Chelsea’s 19. This seemingly echoes the Italian’s recent comments about his new teams’ high line occurring naturally off the back of last season’s tactics and that he’s working on getting them to operate a bit deeper out of possession.
Will the Conference League Help or Hinder Their Season?
One key difference this season compared to last is that Chelsea will compete in the UEFA Conference League, thus playing many more games and navigating a busier schedule. This could be both a blessing and a curse depending on which way you look at it.
More games will mean more rotation, and lots of trust in the full squad will be required by the manager if he’s to simultaneously successfully inspire strong league and cup form.
On the other hand, some of these young players will get a taste of European football for the first time and be provided with more chances to show what they can do as they look to develop their game.
But all of this means Maresca will indeed need time and patience to find a balance with his squad while identifying his favoured team given that the likes of Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo and Marc Cucurella will not be 100% ready on the opening day after busy summers on international duty. They’re also going to be without the suspended James for their first three matches.
Of course, whether the Conference League is a hindrance or not probably depends on how they approach it. If Maresca isn’t willing to rotate, then key players could burn out and be less useful against stronger opposition in the Premier League.
Considering the depth of Chelsea’s squad in terms of sheer numbers, their backup options should, in theory, at least be good enough to see them through the group stage of UEFA’s third-tier competition.
Who Will Shine for the Blues in 2024-25?
Despite being signed last summer, Christopher Nkunku will feel very much like a new signing this season for Chelsea after terrible luck with injuries in 2023-24.
The Frenchman started just two Premier League games last term and made 11 appearances in total (437 minutes), managing three goals in that short time – he’s also scored three times in pre-season friendlies, suggesting he’s found some sharpness heading into the new campaign.
At 26 years old, Nkunku’s already one of the oldest and most experienced players in the Chelsea squad, having come from RB Leipzig with an excellent reputation and goal involvement record (70 goals and 45 assists in 172 games in all competitions).
With so many changes in another chaotic summer for Chelsea, it’s obviously difficult to clearly outline what might be possible or even realistic this season.
Thirty-five different players have made their Premier League debuts for Chelsea across the last two seasons, which is 11 more than any other team (excluding promoted sides). There’ll be a fair few more to come in 2024-25, so it’s very much a case of let’s see what happens with the Blues as they progress through the campaign, though you could say that’s been the case – and arguably the problem – for the last two years.
Such is the pressure and constant outside noise, it will be a huge task for the new manager to navigate the season while trying to appease the fans’ (and owners’) expectations.
No doubt there’ll be many ups and downs along the way, with the hope that Maresca is given the time required to find his best side and get the best out of the young talent that’s available.
But patience has been in limited supply at Chelsea for a long time now. In that respect, perhaps Maresca is already fighting a losing battle.
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