Enzo Maresca’s tweaks highlight why TWO first-team stars must be replaced to turn Chelsea into title contenders

CHELSEA have suddenly refound their form, just at the perfect time of the season.

Enzo Maresca’s Blues are on a run of five wins in a row in all competitions, and fly to Newcastle on Sunday for a key clash in the fight for Champions League places.

Enzo Maresca is enjoying life again, on the back of five straight wins

Chelsea star Cole Palmer refound his goal touch against Liverpool

It’s been a disappointing season for Chelsea to this point, with their early title charge falling to pieces at the start of 2025.

Maresca’s rigid tactics came under fire from Blues fans who have grown used to winning trophies under Roman Abramovich.

Some have even started calling for another change in manager this summer, just 12 months after former Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino was ruthlessly shown the door.

But in recent weeks the form has returned, not least from talisman Cole Palmer who ended his 18-game goal drought with a penalty against champions Liverpool last weekend.

Maresca’s tactical changes – partly due to the timely return to fitness of midfielder Romeo Lavia – have been key to Chelsea’s upturn in form.

But Chelsea’s improvement has also shone a light on their weaknesses.

In particular, there are two stars of the side – who start every game when fit – who are holding the team back.

Chelsea must look to buy two new players in the summer to be considered genuine title contenders next season.

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Moises Caicedo as an inverting fullback

One of the most interesting tactical tweaks from Marcesca was in using the Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo as a right-back in their back four system.

While Caicedo plays as a more traditional fullback when Chelsea are defending he then comes inside into the midfield more consistently when they win back possession.

This means that, along with Lavia who is back in the team after long spells out with injury, Chelsea have two strong players at the base of their midfield with Enzo Fernandez then being free to push higher.

What we are seeing now from Chelsea is a box midfield with Lavia and Caicedo at the base and Fernandez and Palmer in higher positions.

Caicedo’s intelligence and game understanding are key for Chelsea in allowing this to happen.

When coming inside Caicedo is difficult to pick up and regularly he is able to receive the ball in space before then being able to pass the ball forward.

Caicedo has inverted inside and as such Chelsea have overloaded the pitch centrally. This allows them to progress the ball and move the ball forward through the middle

Caicedo’s touch map shows him at right back and in midfield

Caicedo was a nominal right back but played further up the pitch than Lavia and Fernandez on average v Liverpool

Maresca has done a great job so far in terms of teaching Caicedo the timing and the triggers to move from the right-back position into the midfield.

The Ecuadorian international has always been a player who is good against the ball and in duels.

But his ability to come inside and affect the game has been one of the keys so far for Chelsea as they have improved.

Palmer and Fernandez as high 8’s

As part of the decision from Maresca to start moving Caicedo inside and into a more structured midfield role has meant a change to the role of Fernandez.

While early in his career at Chelsea we saw Fernandez used as more of a deep midfielder as a deep 8 or even as a 6, the World Cup winner has been unlocked since he has been moved more consistently into higher positions.

Palmer has also seen his role change across the season having initially been used for the most part as a narrow right-winger.

Now he is now being positioned more naturally as a central attacking midfielder – almost as a No10.

With Fernandez being pushed higher when Chelsea are in possession we are now seeing the two midfielders positioned almost on the same line as advanced or attacking 8’s

Caicedo moves centrally which allows Fernandez to pull out wider, and Palmer drops deeper to pick up the ball. Chelsea are making it very difficult for the opposition to pick up their men and defend properly

Fernandez and Palmer were key men against Liverpool

In creating a structure with two deep midfielders and two advanced midfielders Chelsea are creating situations where they can overload the majority of opposition midfielders.

For the most part opposition teams will play with either two or three players in the central midfield positions.

As such Chelsea are able to control the game when they are in possession.

Maintaining width in the attack

The width as Chelsea attack at the moment under Maresca is very much being provided by two wingers positioned high and wide in the front three.

This means the roles of the two fullbacks for Chelsea are slightly different – Caicedo on the right coming into the midfield while Cucurella on the left sits deep on the same line as the central defenders.

The movements of these fullbacks allows Chelsea to form a solid structure in the middle as they look to control the game and build their attacks.

It is ahead of them that we see the wide attackers stretch the pitch out with their positioning.

They want to stay on the outside of the Chelsea structure, either hard on the line, or in the channels, to stretch out the pitch.

This positioning of the wide attackers allows the movement of Palmer and Fernandez high as they have room to move into as Chelsea attack.

Chelsea’s wingers stay wide for most of the game

Chelsea win possession back early against Liverpool. Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto are positioned on the outside of the attack and Palmer and Fernandez are able to push higher

Both Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto are able to play wide and to dominate in 1v1 situations against opposition fullbacks.

This forces the opposition to defend wide with their fullbacks and this, in turn, allows the attacking midfielders for Chelsea to move into more advanced positions in order to support the attack.

Maresca needs a better forward option

However there is still much more than needs to be addressed.

Firstly Maresca can improve this current Chelsea team with a better striker.

While Nicolas Jackson is still only 23 and he has suffered from injuries this season, we believe that with a stronger profile playing as the No9 we could see Chelsea become a much more dominant attacking side.

Jackson has the profile to be the advanced forward type that will look to routinely run in behind the defensive line.

But at the moment he lacks the consistency of the quality of his attacking moments.

Jackson wants to make the run beyond the last line of the Liverpool defence. The problem is that he is not at the level required to take advantage of the more direct pass that Chelsea will look to make from their defensive line

Nicolas Jackson divides Chelsea fans

And his technical flaws means that when Chelsea do look to go longer to release his runs often the ball can bounce away from him.

This suggests Chelsea will be active in the striker market with a number of interesting profiles of players that could fit their needs and allow them to be more effective in the attacking phase.

More ball progression from the defence

Also for this new-look Chelsea system to be most effective they need to make sure that they are able to move the ball quickly through the thirds of the field.

The issue that they have at the moment is that their central defenders and their left back in Cucurella typically form a back three when they are in possession and their ball progression and forward passing can be slightly slow.

The key for Maresca is to find a way to ensure that the ball is moved quickly from the first line, the defensive line, into the midfield and into the areas of the pitch where Chelsea have the most control and dominance over the opposition.

One of the biggest issues that we see in this regard for Chelsea is that Cucurella is too safe in his possession as he routinely turns down the option to progress the ball.

Cucurella has become a key man, but is he also a weak link?

Cucurella receives the ball across the defensive line and if he opens out and then plays forward then the ball will be in a more dangerous position. Instead he passes back across the defensive line

Cucurella’s pass map in the 3-1 win over Liverpool

While we believe that Chelsea will look to recruit a new striker we also expect them to look to recruit a player in the left-back role who can play as a left-sided central defender in possession and who is more aggressive in moving the ball forward.

Typically the wide central defenders in a back three will be more progressive passers anyway but too often we see Marc Cucurella slow down the attack for Chelsea.

Conclusion

Over the last two seasons the clubs has been focussed on player recruitment with the new ownership group spending more than £1billion to sign an army of young players to long term contracts.

This season has been another rollercoaster ride for Chelsea and their fans but they are positioned, with the season drawing to a close, to qualify for Champions League.

Maresca has shown enough to suggest that he will still be in charge at Chelsea next season and it will be interesting to see the tactical tweaks that he will make to take this team to the next level.