Enzo Maresca has certainly made his mark at Chelsea by bringing in a rather unique training tool – a giant TV screen on the training ground.
The Blues forked out £10million in compensation to prise Maresca from Leicester City in the summer after the Italian guided the Foxes to the Championship title last season.
It was somewhat of a surprise appointment given Maresca had one other managerial gig under his belt, a 14-game stint with Parma from May to November in 2021.
However, Maresca’s doubters have gone quiet, at least for now, as Chelsea sit third in the Premier League with 19 points.
Crucial to the Blues’ surge in the opening months of the season is the form of star forward Cole Palmer, who has seven goals and five assists in the league this term.
Palmer’s brilliance aside, Chelsea’s improved form could be down to an interesting tool used during training sessions at Cobham.
With the November international break coming to a close, the club shared previously unseen pictures from their training base.
The snaps ranged from Moises Caicedo tossing a red frisbee to Malo Gusto attempting an athletic bicycle kick and Palmer riding around on a medical cart.
Even former captain Thiago Silva was papped as he made a midweek visit to the place he called home for four years.
But one image stood out and it gives an insight into how Maresca conducts his analysis.
The picture shows two Chelsea stars staring up at a giant TV screen which had been mounted on a four-wheel trailer.
On the screen is a still image from Chelsea’s pre-season fixture against Mexican side Club America in August, which the Blues won 3-0.
The angle used for the analysis also appears to be a higher view than what fans would typically see when watching on TV.
With the screen easy for all the players to see, it means Maresca can immediately point out and quickly analyse where his stars should have been positioned or the options they could have used.
Players would then be able to instantly correct their error on the field.
Granted, other clubs may use a similar piece of technology at their respective training grounds.
But given Chelsea’s form across the board this season, it’s hard to argue it hasn’t proved beneficial.
Along with their impressive start to the Premier League campaign, the Blues are expectedly blitzing the Europa Conference League.
The innovative use of the technology allows Chelsea players to go over incidents on the training pitch[/caption]
Maresca’s side have won all three of their fixtures and have scored a remarkable 16 goals in that time, which averages to a whopping 5.3 goals per game.
However, the Blues were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle United in the last 16.
Chelsea return to action after the November international break with an away trip to the King Power Stadium on Saturday in what marks Maresca’s first trip to Leicester City since his summer exit.
