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Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca says the current club is “not the same” as the one which regularly challenged for the Premier League title during the last 20 years.
The 45-year-old faces a fight to keep alive his side’s ailing top-four pursuit after winning just two of their last eight in the league, with their brief dalliance with the title race before Christmas long extinguished.
The Blues were two points behind leaders Liverpool on December 22 but have collected only nine points from eight games since, bearing out Maresca’s insistence that his young side are ill-equipped to become champions for the first time since 2017.
After being eliminated from the FA Cup in a meek 2-1 defeat against Brighton on Saturday, the head coach suggested it would leave a path clear to concentrate on the league and Conference League, with some fans fearing the attitude betrayed a lack of ambition from a club that has lifted the FA Cup six times since 2000.
They won the league and cup double in 2010 under Carlo Ancelotti before lifting the cup and the Champions League in the same season in 2012 under Roberto Di Matteo.
If the Community Shield is counted, Chelsea have won multiple trophies in eight seasons going back to 1998. They have been Premier League champions five times.
“They (the fans) are 100 per cent fair and correct,” said Maresca. “I grew up watching Chelsea winning games and competitions, but this Chelsea is not the same as that one.
“We are not ready to compete in four competitions in one season in this moment.
“We were completely unhappy after the (Brighton) game because we like to win, but if there is something positive it is that we can focus on the two competitions that we have now.
“But I completely understand the fans. It’s normal they think in that way. When you have seen your club through the years competing and winning titles, it’s normal that you react in that way.
“I don’t think this Chelsea can be compared to that Chelsea. Our goal, our duty, is to bring this club to compete in four competitions, but in this moment we are not ready.”
Maresca takes his team back to the Amex Stadium on Friday night to try and put right what was one of their worst displays of the season against Fabian Hurzeler’s side.
Victory will hand a much-needed boost to their Champions League hopes and ensure they finish the weekend in the top four, but as important will be a noticeable improvement on recent performances that have laid bare Chelsea’s weakness.
The team has looked slow and disjointed, and has struggled to create chances in defeats to Brighton, Ipswich, Fulham and Manchester City during their fallow run.
Maresca reiterated his oft-heard call for patience.
“This club for the next five, 10 years can compete for titles no doubt,” he said. “In this moment we are in a process to arrive in that position.
“But we are not ready after six months together. There are clubs that are together three, four, five years and they still struggle. Why Chelsea after six months have to win the Premier League or finish top four? Why?
“We are all ambitious. I try to convince the players every day that this club belongs to something different than where we are now.”
