Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have been warned not to sack Enzo Maresca. The Italian faces a somewhat uncertain future at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea lost their grip on the race for Champions League qualification.
The Blues enjoyed a brilliant start to the season, climbing to second in the Premier League table and, at one stage, they were considered to be potential title contenders. Unfortunately for Maresca, though, Chelsea had a bit of a wobble over the festive period, falling well behind Liverpool and Arsenal.
The West Londoners have struggled to transform their fortunes in the new year, and they now sit sixth. Chelsea are one point behind Manchester City in fourth and 17 points adrift of Arne Slot's side at the top of the table.
Despite numerous injuries to big names and some questionable recruitment decisions from the sporting directors in January, Maresca has found himself in a spot of bother. Speaking recently on NBC Sports, Rebecca Lowe tipped the Blues owners to sack the Italian despite it being a 'ridiculous' decision.
"They fired Mauricio Pochettino after he not only had taken them to sixth – which was better than the year before – but improved them as the season went on, they looked pretty good from February onwards," said Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher's 'The Overlap US' colleague.
‘You still sack him when he finishes sixth… Chelsea are sixth right now and they’re actually doing the opposite, they started really well under Maresca and have started to fade away which makes me concerned. I just don’t understand how you can fire Pochettino when they improved and finished sixth but then keep Maresca after this season."
Lowe added: "I think they should keep him – stop firing managers. But, from their perspective, if they’ve done that, I don’t see how they won’t do another firing, which would be ridiculous. They’ve got to start sorting out the players’ attitudes I think, the body language doesn’t look great and they’re all too young.
"That’s the problem for me. But you’ve got to keep Maresca unless they plummet down to tenth in which case there’s obviously a major problem. You have to keep him, try and get some stability at the club..."
Speaking to reporters following Chelsea's defeat to Brighton in the Premier League, Maresca was quizzed on the supporters' concerns with form. The Blues boss said: "The reaction is that I think it is everywhere the same in terms of when you win games, the fans are happy and when you don't win games, the fans are upset.
"In this moment, they are completely right to be upset. In this moment of the season, with the chance we have of bringing this club to where this club has to be. The desire we showed was not enough."
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