- Gary Neville thinks Enzo Maresca must ‘educate’ Chelsea fans on his play style
- He urged Blues supporters to nip a certain behaviour in the bud in the stands
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Gary Neville has argued that Enzo Maresca must ‘educate Chelsea fans’ after noticing the crowd’s uneasy response to his style of play.
He believes Chelsea supporters need to get on board with the Maresca train and all pull in the same direction.
Chelsea slipped to a 2-0 defeat by Manchester City in the first match of the Premier League campaign at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
While Chelsea’s passing style was more subdued against the champions than typical of a Maresca side, Neville noticed a negative crowd response when they did try to build from the back.
‘I think after today Maresca will go to the real fluid football. In that first half, there were, I wouldn’t say boos from Chelsea fans, but sighs, and that needs to probably go,’ he said on The Gary Neville Podcast.
Gary Neville believes Enzo Maresca needs to ‘educate’ Chelsea fans about his style of play
Maresca, a former protege of Pep Guardiola, is known for his possession-dominating style
Neville noticed ‘sighs’ in the crowd when Chelsea tried to play out from the back on Sunday
‘He needs to educate the fans and so do the club because he is going to play that way, that’s why they’ve signed Maresca as a coach.
‘They want to really play out and get these young players popping the ball around and buzzing.’
Goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic were enough to give City the win against the London outfit, who saw Nicolas Jackson’s effort ruled out for offside – leaving Daniel Sturridge questioning his ‘IQ’.
Chelsea had 48 per cent of the ball but for a Pep Guardiola disciple who adopted a dominating style of play with Leicester last season, Neville expects Maresca to ramp up the possession game against weaker opponents.
‘It is going to take time and there is going to be some pain. I think he had to back off a little bit today Maresca,’ Neville said.
‘The demands that he put on his players and Leicester and how to play and the demands he put on his players in pre-season, he didn’t put them on this game today in terms of playing out from the back.
‘They were a bit more basic and safe and cautious. Maybe that was because he knows Pep, knows the quality of City, knows the quality of how they press, and thought: “I need to make sure I’m a bit more safe today.”
‘But it meant at times they were stuck in between a little bit, a team of half-in, half-out, and they lacked a little bit of real belief.’
Erling Haaland opened the scoring in the first half on his 100th Manchester City appearance
Mateo Kovacic restrained his celebrations after wrapping up the victory late in the match
Nicolas Jackson had a goal ruled out for offside which would have been the equaliser for 1-1
Maresca was formerly in charge of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad, tasked with rearing the next generation under the principles of Guardiola.
He led them to a first-ever Premier League 2 title in the 2020-21 season, taking charge of Cole Palmer, Oscar Bobb, Romeo Lavia, James McAtee, and James Trafford.
With a roster of 43 stars on the books, many of whom had become used to Mauricio Pochettino’s vertical, more direct style, it may take time for him to shape the Chelsea philosophy in his image.
After the loss to City, Maresca said: ‘I think we competed very well for much of the game. We were similar if not better. The performance was there but we didn’t take the chances.
‘Probably the big difference was inside the box. I’m quite happy in terms of performance. For me, the important thing is to create chances. We didn’t score but we created chances.’