Football pundit Joe Cole has named the top-flight manager who he feels has the ‘most difficult job within the Premier League’ this season.
There are a number of top-flight bosses who may feel their task is harder than a few of their fellow head coaches this term, corresponding to Ange Postecoglou.
The Australian is under huge pressure at Tottenham to bring success to the club with Spurs having gone 17 years with out a major trophy and his job has been made notably difficult this term with a major injury crisis.
Cole, though, didn’t pick Postecoglou and he also didn’t name Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, Manchester United’s Ruben Amorim or Liverpool’s Arne Slot.
The trio of managers may feel they’ve probably the most difficult job with Arteta under pressure to deliver a Premier League title after two narrow runner-up finishes to Manchester City across the last two campaigns.
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Like Postecoglou, Amorim has been tasked to show across the fortunes of a struggling ‘Big Six’ club with problems on and off the pitch while Slot had big shoes to fill, succeeding legendary ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
But Cole has named Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca because the Premier League manager with probably the most difficult job within the top-flight this term.
‘I believe Enzo Maresca has got probably the most difficult job within the Premier League, since the expectations of the club weren’t quite married with where they were on the time [when he arrived],’ Cole told TNT Sports.
‘In the event you remember back he had 27, 28 players who expected to be a part of the team, he needed to filter through that.
‘He needed to embed a playing style, under that pressure. So I believe he’s doing an amazing job, and I believe for them to be sitting 4 within the league and doing what they’re on this competition (the Conference League) – sensible.’
The Blues massively impressed through the first half of the 2024-25 campaign, with some tipping them as Premier League title challengers.
Since then, though, Chelsea’s fortunes have turned, with the west Londoners now firmly in a battle to complete in the highest 4 under Maresca.
Chelsea legend John Terry explained why his former club had suffered a ‘drop off’ under Maresca within the second half of the season earlier this month.
Chatting with DR Sports, Terry said: ‘Champions League, still a possibility? Who knows.
‘We’ve showed signs this 12 months of being a extremely young squad I believe. And I say that by way of performances where you see a extremely good spell, then we’ve come off of it recently.
‘It was at all times going to be one in all those seasons for me, even after we began well I assumed we’d have slightly little bit of a drop off and we’ve done that.
‘Listen, Champions League must be the minimum yearly for me. Whenever you’re playing at a top club like Chelsea the mentality must be Champions League football 12 months after 12 months.’
The typical age of the Chelsea starting XI within the Premier League (23.5) is lower than some other side within the top-flight this season.
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