3 things Maresca must do to avoid most embarrassing defeat yet | OneFootball

As you’d expect, the total focus around Chelsea at the moment is on the transfer window, which closes on Monday night. The Blues don’t have a game this weekend, so it’s easy to get distracted.

But we face West Ham on Monday, and suddenly we will all be snapped out of our fantasies of elite strikers being signed and returned to the reality of our struggling form.

Enzo Maresca will have been far more focused on using this full week to train his team rather than worrying too much about comings and goings in the market. What can he do to prevent a bad result against our rivals, now led by our former manager Graham Potter?

There are 3 huge decisions he needs to make, and we’re sure he will be grilled on all of them in the press conference tomorrow.

Maresca needs to sort 3 key items to avoid embarrassing defeat

Graham Potter as Chelsea manager. (Photo by Visionhaus/GettyImages)

First up, sort out his goalkeeper situation. The pressure on Robert Sanchez continues to rise, and while Maresca continues to defend him publicly, there must be doubts behind the scenes, especially after his most egregious error yet in the loss to Man City last weekend.

Secondly, he’s got to get Nicolas Jackson scoring again. The striker’s goal drought has coincided with the team’s slump in form. Whether that’s correlation or causation, it needs to be fixed.

Third is the most important – but also the most general. The real change in this team compared to back in the Autumn where they were blowing teams away is the lack of energy and belief the players are showing. They’re back to being slow and timid and crumbling at the first sign of pressure.

Maresca needs to figure out how to get them back motivated and energised, otherwise he potentially faces his most embarrassing and damaging defeat yet.