ESPN pundit makes huge accusation about Enzo Maresca’s management skills | OneFootball

ESPN were discussing Chelsea’s recent run of bad form, and they honed in on Cole Palmer and his recent form.

Mario Melchiot was clear that none of this bad run is down to Palmer, in fact it’s the other way round:

“The motivation in the team dipped. There were crucial moments where they had to win games and [manager Enzo] Maresca didn’t change things,” the former Blues defender said.

“We talk about Cole Palmer because he affected the game for so long, and now we’ve seen in the last few games we’ve seen him lose the cool he normally has. He was the cool figure in the team who understood how to open things up.

“Can [Maresca] influence the motivation, keep them sharp and hungry? I think the hunger is kind of dipping.”

That’s a big accusation to make of a manager, and of the players. But few fans would disagree on the evidence of the last few games.

You can see Melchiot speaking in the clip embedded here:

Maresca is failing his most important duty

For all of the many qualities Enzo Maresca may have, if he can’t get the group motivated and engaged that’s damning. Over time the responsibilities of a manager have been hugely diluted – he’s got specialist coaches, sporting directors and all sorts of others around him to help out.

His main focus has to be on matchdays and getting the group motivated. Right now, he’s just not delivering on that. The rising frustration in the squad, the resignation when we concede, the blame being passed around. These are all things that will cause bad results and accelerate the negative spiral.

We have complained many times about the way the squad at his disposal has been used, but if he’s not getting 100% out of them anyway, there are much bigger problems.