Chelsea have had a pretty good start to the Enzo Maresca era. They’re currently on a three match winning run in all competitions and have won three of their five Premier League games at the start of the 2024/25 season.
The Italian gaffer is doing an admirable job in rotating his jam-packed squad smartly and also helping new signings adapt to his system with ease. He’s also had a transformative effect on players like Nicolas Jackson and Moises Caicedo, who are performing way better than they did last season.
Despite the uplifting mood at the club, some Chelsea fans still don’t see fully satisfied with the start under Maresca. Rory Jennings, the loudmouth supporter cum pundit is one of those who still see the downsides to how the Blues are operating under their new head coach.
Jennings was invited by Sky Sports to be a representative for Chelsea in their latest Fan Debate, where he was asked of his opinion about the early season. He constantly tried downplaying Chelsea’s performances this season and took time to slam the club for offloading academy graduates like Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah.
At one point, Jennings argued: “Conor Gallagher has gone to play in the Champions League for a manger like Diego Simeone. While we are here playing in the Conference League for a Championship manager in Maresca. Pochettino went up massively in my expectations because he was true to his principles, while Maresca has come in and effectively done everything the board wanted or expected him to do.”
This statement itself reeks of hypocrisy for fans who followed Jennings’ rants against Pochettino last season. At the beginning of the 2023/24 campaign, the Chelsea fan was pleased with the Argentine before quickly turning against him and publicly stating that he ‘hated him’. He then did a U-turn by slamming Chelsea’s decision to sack him after the end of the previous season.
Jennings also tried to demean how the Blues have just one game this season (against Manchester City) by arguing that all their wins were against teams at the bottom half of the Premier League table, as if the away victories don’t mean much.
Chelsea fans have called out Jennings for his super negative takes and urged Sky Sports to take him off such fan debates. There is a lot of counter-argument to what Jennings is trying to insinuate and no reason for him to be so negative.
Fans are pointing towards so many things are working well for Chelsea, including their regular players starting to show consistency with performances and even the fringe or substitutes performing well.
Some supporters have also pointed at how Jennings doesn’t even react like a Chelsea fan would during match watchalongs. One particular clip shows him showing no happiness for a goal scored by Cole Palmer and how he gets overly emotional when it comes to criticizing a mistake from a Chelsea player during a game or when they concede.
Rory has been forced to respond to the massive criticism for his comments on Chelsea’s performances and wrote on X (Twitter): “Reaction to this is hilarious and clearly demonstrates how fickle some fans can be. Back to back wins under Maresca and everyone has suddenly forgotten how we treated Chalobah, Gallagher, Chilwell, Sterling etc, this summer.”
This half-baked response doesn’t really prove his critics wrong but only makes their demands seem even more logical. Considering the large number of fans who want Jennings taken off the Overlap’s debates, Sky Sports might be forced to choose the Chelsea representative smartly next time if they want views from the club’s supporters.