Chelsea Finds Its Secret Weapon For Champions League Push

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 30: players of Chelsea huddle prior to the Carabao Cup Fourth ... [+] Round match between Newcastle United and Chelsea at St James' Park on October 30, 2024 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

In the past couple of years, Chelsea has gained a reputation for being the Premier League's most well-upholstered clown car.

Labeled "blue billion-pound bottle jobs," after contriving to lose the Carabao Cup Final to Liverpool, it has relentlessly gazumped its rivals for signings that it couldn't fit into a coherent team.

Managers with multi-year contracts lasted months at Stamford Bridge, while the first-team squad was enlarged to the point that players got changed in corridors. Promising young players with strong connections to the club were dispensed with to balance the books, leaving creaking old legs to plug the holes in the team they left.

They were the butt of too many jokes, miles ahead in the spending tables but disappointingly low in the actual Premier League standings.

This summer, the mockery continued as manager Mauricio Pochettino, hailed for assembling a somewhat coherent team from disparate parts, departed West London replaced by a man with a fraction of his pedigree: Enzo Maresca.

With a solitary season as Leicester City's manager in the Championship under his belt, it looked a considerable step up.

Not least because the Italian coach's first job was to face down some of the club's biggest egos as the unwieldy squad was chopped down to size.

But Maresca showed precisely the steel and decisiveness required, clearly establishing his intended style and who he wanted to play.

When he arrived in West London, far less was expected of the former Manchester City youth coach than predecessors like Graham Potter or, indeed, Pochettino.

But, in a shorter period, Maresca managed to whip Chelsa into a team that was putting its talent in the right places.

The form could have been better, with disappointing home ties to Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.

However, Chelsea is in fifth place, having won more than half of its games and performing admirably in the two losses to Manchester City and Liverpool.

The soccer they play is exciting and adventurous, and perhaps most impressively, it gets the most out of players who've looked lost before. Noni Madueke, Marc Cucarella, and Nicolas Jackson appear comfortable and confident.

A sign of the manager's self-belief was demonstrated ahead of the Premier League clash against Newcastle United by his publicly calling out captain Reece James to lead.

"I spoke with him and I expect from him more in terms of leadership inside the changing room," Maresca said.

"He's on the way, he's doing well, he's progressing but I expect more.

"Most of the time, a player thinks that 'because I am captain I expect that you [the manager] give me more'.

"No, for me because you are the captain you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest. I expect it from Reece and his team-mates expect it from him to give always more in terms of leadership."

It was a bold call to single out a player returning from a torrid set of injury concerns. But by doing so, he showed serious confidence. It was the type of thing his old boss, Guardiola, might do.

It certainly impressed the ever-serious Roy Keane, who was on television as a pundit for the fixture.

Chelsea's Italian head coach Enzo Maresca shouts instructions to the players from the touchline ... [+] during the English League Cup round of 16 football match between Newcastle United and Chelsea at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on October 30, 2024. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)

"Most of the time, a player thinks that 'because I am captain, I expect that you [the manager] give me more,'" he said.

"No, for me because you are the captain you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest. I expect it from Reece and his team-mates expect it from him to give always more in terms of leadership."

Unsurprisingly, the Irishman said he had "no problem" with Maresca's tactics and believed it was fine to "upset" players if it helped improve them.

"He's obviously been injured and he sees him on the training ground, he got back involved last week. I'd have no problem with a manager saying that he wants more from him. What's the problem with saying that?

"It's nice now and again to upset your own players and maybe he's just trying to gee him up a bit. He knows his back from injury, and he wants him to stay fit and healthy. We know what a brilliant player he is, but he works with him day in and day out and just wants a bit more from him.

"He can't be someone he's not, but you can show leadership in different ways. There's nothing wrong with the manager throwing a hand grenade into his own dressing room just to upset a few and keep people on their toes. That's part of it."

It must be refreshing for Chelsea fans to have a manager with the strength of character to take this approach.

This is their secret weapon as the club vies for Champions League soccer.