London is Blue Dispatch #058

When Enzo Maresca was hired nearly two months ago, I wrote a (slightly) infamous newsletter predicting he’d be gone by Christmas. Preseason for me has been a lot of lip-biting, resisting the temptation to scream “I told you so!” into the void, trying to make sense of the purple haze from the storm clouds in my head.

This morning, the Athletic posted an article illustrating a hope-o-meter of PL fans – which ones were most optimistic for the season. Arsenal perennially in delulu land, sat 11 spots above 4-time Champions Man City, with 94% going for an optimistic season. At the bottom of the table, with 29% of the glass full, were Chelsea. Of the list of things I’m worried about for the upcoming season, this one’s somewhere close to the top.

Clearlake’s biggest flaw in their short time running Chelsea isn’t a transfer strategy not many see sense in, or a ruthless (bordering on cruel) culling of people/players they do not see as part of the bigger picture. Where they’ve dramatically failed is to recognize that the foundation of a successful team is not a manager’s tactical competency but in a stable, nurturing environment.

Tuchel, grappling with a fractured marriage was wrung dry during an excruciating & gruelling takeover process. He imploded months before he was fired. Graham Potter was given one dressing room for a squad that needed three. Disenchanted, burnt-out players did nothing to raise their level in a season with an extraordinary triple new-manager bounce.

Pochettino was given a U23 squad with almost no PL experience and a two-year deal to get top 4. Despite a tumultuous season riddled with injuries, he almost managed it too. Poch of course made the cardinal sin of making one academy graduate captain in preseason and the another throughout the season, when both had been earmarked as plump enough for the chopping block. I will stand by this – Poch finishing 6^th last season was Mourinho claiming 2^nd with United was one of his best managerial achievements.

There was hope that a quiet summer would be more important than anything in helping make Maresca’s job easier. Instead, the team made the notorious west coast to east coast trip again, exiled two of the best performers from last season, missed out on both of their reported top targets, and are now locked in negotiations to see which of Joao Felix and Victor Osimhen they have the honor of overpaying for. Maresca complained about having no time to drill tactics in preseason, then about American pitches, after a dire showing across six games.

That’s how optimism goes from 4^th in the table last year to dead last this time around. Clearlake famously made their money in distressed securities, which has unfortunately also become a hallmark of their reign at the club. It takes some effort to knock the wind out of such a resilient fanbase. But even in their twisted, indecipherable ways, a part of us grudgingly has to accept that they also want the best for the club.

Three days away from the new season, it is important to reflect upon that accumulated fatigue and exasperation over some soul-sapping seasons. None of this is Maresca’s fault, he hasn’t even coached his first official game. The season cannot be written off before it has even begun. Like I’ve been trying to tell myself, it’s okay to feel down, but not okay to bring others down with me. That’s why I spent this one newsletter keeping aside diamond midfields for intangibles. Those matter a lot more.

Quality wise, there is enough in the squad to challenge for top 4, and a deep run in the Conference League. For all the faults I see in our new manager’s tactical approach, I want him to succeed exponentially more than I want to be proven right. When that first whistle blows, the past is the past. A win, even a strong performance in defeat, could even erase a lot of trauma.