Enzo Maresca\u2019s recent public criticism has left a fresh dilemma at Stamford Bridge after he signalled frustrations aimed away from supporters and declined to confront the media. The exact target of Maresca\u2019s remarks remains unclear, but speculation has focused on those in the club hierarchy, including sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart and possibly co-owner Behdad Eghbali.<\/p>\n
The incident escalated quickly and has been compared to Mohamed Salah\u2019s recent decision to call out those in charge at Anfield. Wayne Rooney, speaking on his self-titled BBC podcast, drew a direct parallel between the two episodes.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me it was very similar to the Mo Salah situation last week where it was very premeditated,\u201d Rooney told his self-titled BBC podcast. \u201cHe knows exactly what he is saying and who he is aiming it at and the board and owners at Chelsea will know it is aimed at them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maresca made his comments after Chelsea ended a run of three underwhelming performances. The general narrative around the club had been negative, though not irreparable, and Chelsea still finished the weekend inside the top four.<\/p>\n
Rooney warned that Maresca\u2019s decision to speak out publicly could have consequences for the manager\u2019s relationship with those who employ him. He urged respect for club owners while questioning the wisdom of confronting them in public.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to respect the owners of a football club,\u201d Rooney continued. \u201cThey employ you and bring you in, so it\u2019s their way and I feel he\u2019s gone a bit against that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something that\u2019s clearly happened, whether it\u2019s a disagreement or he feels his job is under pressure and he doesn\u2019t feel it should be because of the two trophies he\u2019s won and the points he\u2019s picked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel like he\u2019s a manager that will backtrack. He has got a passion about him and a drive about him. Whether he has heard things, like the club might want him out and he\u2019s been proactive to go on the front foot, you don\u2019t know why he\u2019s done it. It\u2019s very strange.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019ll get the protection now he\u2019s come out and done what he has done. That will be very difficult for the club to come and protect him, which is a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rooney says Maresca’s public complaint clears the air about targets but may cost him protection for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,969],"tags":[1089,1087,1215],"class_list":["post-5096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-premier-league","tag-chelsea-struggles","tag-coaching-change","tag-controversy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}