Former Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has heaped praise on Enzo Maresca for the impact that he has made at Stamford Bridge, in an exclusive interview with Sports Mole.
On the back of the Blues securing sixth position in the Premier League under predecessor Mauricio Pochettino, Maresca's side currently sit in fourth place in the standings.
The Italian faces a further test of his credentials courtesy of several Chelsea squad players having been allowed to leave on loan during the winter transfer window.
With injuries starting to impact on selection in several areas of the pitch, Maresca is left with the prospect of having to find different solutions to stay in the hunt for Champions League qualification, as well as FA Cup and Conference League silverware.
Nevertheless, speaking to Sports Mole, Wright-Phillips feels that Maresca deserves credit for how he has negotiated a testing transitional period at the West Londoners.
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Wright-Phillips spent three years at Stamford Bridge between 2005 and 2008, making 125 appearances in all competitions at a time when Avram Grant replaced Jose Mourinho in what was the first managerial change in the Roman Abramovich era.
With Chelsea having gone under a different direction under Maresca in comparison to the style of football played with Pochettino in charge, Wright-Phillips has been left impressed with how the current head coach has fared.
That is despite Chelsea having won just two of their last eight Premier League fixtures, only collecting nine points during that period.
The former England international said: "In areas, they've still been good. I just think it's the mistakes that have cost them and not taking chances, I'd say, has been effective.
"I think they were good early on in the season before the Christmas period, in many ways of outscoring teams or teams making them make a mistake, not getting punished. And then they'll go and catch them on the break and score goals. And they were putting games to bed.
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"It kind of covered over certain cracks in terms of whether [Robert] Sanchez made a mistake or there was a bad back pass, like last night, where obviously [Jarrod] Bowen goes through and scores. So those mistakes will still be there because it's still early days for Maresca and the way he wants him to play. And he's still figuring out, in many ways, his best pair and centre-backs to play with who he wants to be his number one goalkeeper.
"So there are still areas. But for me, I think he's done fantastic with the load of players that he had there to sort out what he needed and what he wants within that team to play the way he wants to play. I think he's done an amazing job."
Maresca currently boasts a record of 21 wins, seven draws and seven defeats from his 35 matches in charge of Chelsea.
Next up is an FA Cup fourth-round tie at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening, Maresca admitting on Friday that he is likely to be missing two of his forwards.
Shaun Wright-Phillips was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of BetVictor Casino.
Darren Plant
