Maresca tells restless fans to be realistic

Some Chelsea supporters remain standoffish with Enzo Maresca, even after seeing their side creep back into top four.

- Jacob Steinberg

The sense remains that Stamford Bridge regulars will take some convincing on the merits of the possession-heavy nature of Marescaball. It is not setting pulses racing and it was telling that the mood was far from harmonious during this win. Maresca seemed to be letting out a lot of frustration when he reacted to Marc Cucurella breaking the deadlock after an hour of stodginess by gesturing angrily for fans to make more noise. The grumbling about his team's backwards and sideways passing had struck a nerve. But Maresca could hardly complain if there was dissatisfaction about Chelsea labouring against opponents who look certain to return to the Championship.

There was the excuse of Cole Palmer, nine games without a goal after spurning an early penalty, demanding to start despite diarrhoea preventing him from training for 48 hours. Yet Palmer's queasy stomach was not the only issue for Chelsea. Maresca also pointed to Leicester switching to a back five for the first time under Ruud van Nistelrooy, saying it forced him to change his plan just before kick-off. Cucurella, who was supposed to be an auxiliary midfielder, was asked to overlap more from left-back; Maresca suggested that the shifts were too subtle for outsiders to understand.