Enzo Maresca puts 49ers in impossible position over Daniel Farke sack at Leeds United
Enzo Maresca’s comments about Leeds United will make it very hard for the 49ers to sack Daniel Farke.
Leeds outplayed Chelsea on the way to a 3-1 victory at Elland Road on Wednesday night to lift the Whites out of the bottom three, for a day at least.
Goals from Jaka Bijol, Ao Tanaka and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were enough to take all three points and halt a four-game losing run for Farke‘s men.
Leeds had impressed in the first half against Aston Villa before losing 2-1 to a second-half Morgan Rogers brace, and a Calvert-Lewin-inspired fightback levelled the game at Man City from two down before Phil Foden’s injury-time winner.
But it finally all came together for Farke and his players against Maresca and company, with the Italian forced to admit afterwards there was nothing unlucky about his side’s performance.
Maresca admits Leeds better than Chelsea across the board
Speaking after the game the Blues boss explained the changes he had made to a line up that had drawn 1-1 with leaders Arsenal despite playing most of the game with 10 men, after comfortably beating Barcelona 3-0.
He said: “When you play the way we have in the last two games against Barcelona and Arsenal, you expect a better performance. But for many reasons it’s not going to be possible. We changed players and when you change players the level drops because the reality is they’re important players for us.”
But he didn’t make excuses on the night, simply saying of Leeds: “I think they were better than us in all the aspects.”
In a fairly bleak assessment from his perspective, but an excellent one for Farke, Maresca added: “They deserved to win the game. There’s nothing we can take from the game. The only thing we can do is try to understand the mistakes we’ve made and try to reset. In 48 hours we’ve another game.”
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January transfer window looms large in Farke sack situation
Having held off removing Farke amid clear success after he won the Championship title last summer the 49ers are now in a tricky situation once more.
Clearly, one top-flight victory is not equal to winning the league, but the Whites boss delivered exactly what he had to to give himself hope of staying in a job.
Farke has altered his tactics since half time at the Etihad and since that point he has outscored Man City 2-1 in one half, and Chelsea 3-1 across 90 minutes.
It is rare that a beaten manager is so up-front in accepting his side were soundly dispatched, but Maresca’s comments made explicit how right Farke got his set up at Elland Road.
Everything could change if Leeds pass on the favour to a struggling Liverpool side on Saturday, but even a draw against the champions would help consolidate the upturn Farke has implemented.
The key issue is whether he has finally struck on the key to making sure the Premier League return isn’t a one-season stint because the pressure is on with regard to the January transfer window.
Andrea Radrizzani was infamously talked out of sacking Jesse Marsch during the World Cup break in 2022, disastrously hanging on until just after the American had been backed in the winter market, with Javi Gracia, Michael Skubala and Sam Allardyce subsequently unable to save a squad constructed for a previous boss from relegation.
If Paraag Marathe, who was present in a minority capacity at the time, expects to sack Farke at some point this season then he will be forced to do it sooner rather than later to give a replacement the benefit of the transfer window.
But on current evidence, not least from the opposing manager, that could generate a great deal of criticism thanks to Farke updating his tactics, a stick often used to beat him with, and getting a return.
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