Enzo Maresca's Man Management has been superb so far....

Some brilliant decisions have reaped rewards

Hello everyone,

A non loan army article from me for a change! Dont worry it will still still be out on Friday.

I just wanted to write a short ‘flowers giving’ article to Enzo Maresca this week.

When thinking about the season so far I have noticed a common theme and that is some excellent decision making and man management skills on show from our Gaffer.

Firstly, the Enzo Fernandez pre-season situation was handled and dealt with amicably with no fuss in the media. It was handled behind the scenes in a professional manner with minimal leaks and drama. Within days it was forgotten and situation moved on.

Then it was all of the nonsense early season speculation from pundits and broadcasters about a 40-man squad, which we now get praised for using 2 teams and funnily enough 25-ish players, like EVERY club.

Then came the Raheem Sterling situation with his agents/advisors playing stupid games in the media ahead of our first game of the season, every question asked was handled with class and honesty, the decision gets better every day.

The Ben Chilwell situation hasn’t always been dealt with great, predominantly by the club more than Maresca. At the end of the day if there are pre-existing players at the club that do not suit your style of play what else can you do.

Enzo Fernandez was playing pretty poorly and had clearly been effected by the ongoing breakdown of his relationship with his wife whom he has 2 young children with. Maresca took him out of the firing line for a few games, Fernandez and his wife started divorce proceedings and since he has been re-introduced to the team he has been sensational, showing why we spent £100m on him.

The Jadon Sancho signing really split the fanbase, I was routing for it but that is purely biased because I absolutely love Sancho and have done during his entire career, I was over the moon we signed him with a sense of realism telling me that it wasn’t our best idea unless we had a departing attacker. How much say Maresca had over the signing was questionable but the fact that Sancho has started pretty much every league game when fit and available shows he was desperate to sign him, he was right to and Sancho will be our player permanently unless we finish below 14th in the league.

He actively called out Reece James and his leadership skills, informing him that he had to improve and pretty much stand up and be counted, Reece is a quiet and laid back character, this squad needs leadership and a focal point behind the scenes, Maresca needs and wants that from his skipper.

The Robert Sanchez situation is my only questionable bit of man management, albeit I understand the reasons behind it. He is constantly praising and sticking by him in the media, but to me that is only because he is a confidence player and if he gave him the same treatment he gave Reece in the media it would be likely for his performances to get even worse (yes that is possible).

Overall, I think Enzo Maresca’s first 6 months in the job couldn’t have gone much better and as soon as we sort the GK and defensive depth situations out he will really be able to go out there and challenge for the Premier League. The decision makers at the club deserve some praise for his appointment.

When they whittled down the candidates not many wanted Maresca, I can’t lie I was all for it just to have a style of play again, I did not expect the performance we have seen from Maresca and his team in the slightest!

Thanks for reading

Luke Rushbrook