Former England midfielder Joe Cole has hailed Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca as deserving of the 2024/25 Manager of the Season award.
Several managers have impressed in the first half of the season, such as Arne Slot, who took over at Liverpool and is currently top of the table, or Nuno Espirito Santo at Nottingham Forest and Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth.
But Cole feels Maresca, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino last summer and has led the team to a great performance at the moment, is the most deserving of the position.
“It looks great,” Joe Cole told TNT Sports. “I think Enzo Maresca has been the manager of the season so far, with what he’s had to go through at the start.”
“We spoke to him, remember at West Ham? He talked about the 30-something players he had and he had to try to manage. There were a lot of questions about the reinforcement and since the end of September the outlook has been good.”
Despite a remarkable Promotion ufabet run of form. Chelsea head coach Maresca has continued to play down his team’s chances of winning the Premier League title this season.
‘No matter how many games we are going to win, I think we’re not ready to compete for the title,’ Maresca said after beating the Bees to make it five Premier League victories in a row.
‘One of the reasons is I think the team that knows how to compete to win titles will not concede a goal (Bryan Mbeumo’s late consolation) like we concede.
‘On 90 minutes, a throw-in for us and we concede a goal. A team that knows how to win titles, that goal they’re not to going to concede. It’s why I continue to say that we are not ready for titles. Even if you don’t believe me.
‘I would love the pressure to compete for the title. But we cannot concede the goal we concede and open the game and give them the chance to take a point here.’