The En(d)zo for Maresca

22:51If they fail to qualify for the Champions League, financially, this would be catastrophic for a team that is already, in terms of financial fair play and PSR, on very much borderline. Craig? Well, look, it's not often that I've thought that the Chelsea, this current Chelsea hierarchy, have done things properly. And whilst there's two sides to every story, when you look to them as if you're looking for an escape possibly elsewhere, or even trying to use it as a bit of a blackmail for a new contract, it's only going to end up one way. Unless that is, your results are so stratastically good that the ball are in a bit of a juxtaposition where they can't be seen to be letting them go, but two wins in nine in their recent form suggests otherwise.

23:39And when you're certainly more or less touting yourself at these potential jobs that may or may not become available, then the club are going to take a longer term view so I have no sympathy for him whatsoever because when you play those cards and you're sitting at the poker table and you're a poker, you love a bit of poker and all that sort of stuff when you're sitting there, when you play a hand as powerful as that or you think it's as powerful as that you better make sure you can back it up and he hasn't and so where they go, I have no idea what they do next But when you're sort of saying, well, I'm going to be talking to them and maybe try and jump ship.

24:22But if you give me a new deal, that's akin to try to blackmail them in a sense. So certainly trying to strong arm them. So, yeah, listen, was he doing a decent job? Yeah. And was it brilliant? No. Yeah. I mean, they won the Club World Cup. I mean, spare me. People will bring that up, won't they? Oh, you know, the success. The conference league, when he played the second team and the Club World Cup, I mean, spare me, as Jules said, it was all about this year getting amongst it, getting in the top four, potentially putting some sort of challenge in at the top, which seems to have fallen away. So when you're touting yourself around, I have no sympathy whatsoever for Enzo Maresca.

25:04You can get away with this if you're top of the table. Yeah. Everything's going well. But as Jules and Craig say, you win two in nine against Everton. And I can't remember the other one in the Carabao Cup. It's like, what are you doing?

25:15Frank Leboeuf:The timing of this was poor. When I first heard the news, the first thing that came to mind was, well, here goes Clear Lake and Todd Bowley and whoever else is involved. Kind of been a little bit haphazardous, as you've seen in the past. Kind of given where Chelsea were, when Maresco took over. Kind of quietened down a dressing room that was overstaffed. has turned this into, at their best, a good Chelsea team. Right now, they're going through an awful spell, and you thought, OK, write this out. Fourth place is still offing for you. It really is not a good Liverpool team that are sitting fourth.

25:50Frank Leboeuf:They're three points behind them. But then came the news about him having discussions with Manchester City and us. And for me, that did not make sense. It didn't make sense to Lake. And you wondered, well then, who really was the source of the leak? Because it really looks poorly on Enzo Mareska at this point. Given the job that you were handed two years ago, I'm making an argument for you that you're managing that well, and yet still you're kind of flirting with a city job and nobody's really sure whether Pep is going to leave at the end of the season anyway and where you are in that pecking order.

26:27Frank Leboeuf:I thought it was a little arrogant of him to think that he's going to be a shoo-in or the suggestions that he's going to be issuing for that. So it makes the timing of it couldn't have been any worse, which then comes down to who's managing Enzo Moresco, who's making these statements or making these demands. And again, I think the more you have business people involved in these football decisions, the more they get it wrong. So who's going to be the next? No, no, I'm just going to say, he's managing Chelsea Football Club, for God's sake. I mean, what is he? I mean, in some sense, he was lucky to get that job.

27:04He did a good job at Leicester. Leicester were expected to go up after dropping down, but he did a good job. They faltered at the end. But then he steps into this Chelsea job, which is the biggest, but he probably couldn't even believe it. It's not like he was managing Leicester and he was touting himself to Man City and Juventus and others. I can understand that. He's managing Chelsea. Now, I know it's a transitional period. I know it's a tough job, but he might never get the chance, might never, to manage Man City or Juve or whoever it is. So he's pretty much given up the opportunity by the way that they have gone about it, managing one of the most successful clubs, certainly in the last 20 years, in European football.

27:49He might not get that chance again. It's just bonkers. Having said all of that, Jules, he's not the first Chelsea manager to fall out with this particular board. yeah that's true and you know a part of me and again i don't know the answer and i think we probably will find out in the next few days but maybe that's why he wanted to maybe he could feel that there was just those tensions were too was too much hence why there was that incredible press conference with the this is the worst 48 hours of my life nobody supported us and the club who exactly then all those leaks about him talking to city and talking to juventus maybe that's what he was looking for.

28:27Maybe he was just like, okay, I'm better off out of here. I don't get on with that medical staff, the ownership and the ball and what they want me to do. And remember the last two transfer windows, he wanted a centre back. They didn't give it to him last summer. He wanted a number nine last January. They didn't give it to him either. It's a strange club the way this is run overall. Let's not forget either. So maybe part of me thinks, okay, that's what he wanted. He was looking for it. And that's why he did all those things. And then in the end, he got what he wanted and now he's going to do nothing until the end of the season and then maybe follow Pep or you know take over Pep or whatever whatever he does maybe but but you're right Tuchel and Podge and Potter I mean Lampard was a little bit different and Bruno to go back to the graphic that we've just seen in terms of who've been the the the manager since the the takeover and and and Bluko took over so unclear like it won't be the last again this is a a very particular particular kind of job as a manager where you don't decide much.

29:28You're there. You have to work with what is given to you. You don't choose the players. You don't choose the position that are strengthening. You just go, this is who we're getting for you. This is what you have. 50 players, 40 players, age between 18 and 25, all of that. There's just nothing you can say. You go along with it and you work with that. If you're not happy, you can go, don't take the job. And that's why he's very special. And to be fair, maybe he'd had enough of that too. Having said that, it is still a great job, isn't it? Considering where Chelsea are in the table, normally you would take over a team who are really struggling.

30:01You can't say that of Chelsea, despite their poor run of form of late. And it is Liam Rosenoir. How did you say his name, Jules? Rosenoir. Rosenoir. Rosenoir. There you go. Oh, for God's sake. That was a joke, Craig. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. Rosadoir, of course, favourite. Tell us about him, Jules. A super young, bright manager. There's no doubt he's done a really good job at Strasbourg. And again, I know it's Ligue 1 and it's Strasbourg, who are owned by Blue Coast, so same ownership to Chelsea. I think he was put in that job at Strasbourg, clearly because the Chelsea ownership believed in his potential and his quality, and that was clearly to develop him and improve him for one day maybe taking over at Chelsea.

30:51I think this is maybe a little bit early. I'm not sure if he's ready yet to make that step up. I'm not sure if the Chelsea job is the right one for him either right now. But if he gets that job, we will get those answers very soon. But what's for sure, he's got great principles, great idea. Again, he's still very young, only 41 years old and very young in his coaching career, a bit like Mareska was, to be fair, when they decided to go with him at Chelsea. But he's got great potential. I just don't know really. And I don't know if he's ready for this kind of job. Yeah, this is kind of... You have no real idea, Craig, do you, about whether this is going to work or not?

31:29No, absolutely nothing. I think it's just nobody knows which way they're going to go. It was interesting, though, when Jules was talking about, you know, the lack of input from a manager at Chelsea, and maybe it's slightly different from other clubs in England, but not so much as it was a few years ago, where managers had their fingerprints on, like Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson had their paw prints over everything. But surely the Italian and Spanish and German managers should be used to this kind of approach because we're always told that's how they do it in continental Europe. You know, they have a sporting director and they make the bulk of the signings.

32:08The manager has maybe a little bit of input. So, you know, Enzo Maresco would have known or should have known around, certainly around continental Europe. That's the way they've done things for a lot of years. In terms of who's going to come in, this is a sort of throw darts at the wall type of thing at the moment. So I think I'm with Jules. He may be doing a good job in Strasbourg after managing Hull and a little bit of Derby, but that's a big job to come into and a lot of pressure, particularly to get with the objective to get in the Champions League. You've got to feel that they would be taking a huge risk going for somebody that is so inexperienced when the aim and the need of that club is to get in that European place.

32:49Frank Leboeuf:What do you do, Sean, if you're hiring? That's the thing. I'm with the boys here and thinking Liam Rossini is a little bit early in his career, in his management career, to step into a job such as this. But then, if Chelsea put out a statement saying we're going to make a permanent appointment within days or something of his sort, they said, you have to feel it's that this deal is already done or it's a simple one to be done and on that list Liam Rossini is the only one that kind of ticks that box being that he's already with with the ownership group in Strasbourg so it makes it points to once Liam Rossini but I just don't feel right now he's your right fit I think in time he will be and he'll prove himself to be that good a manager but he's still very early in his his management career apparently we have to goodbye to craig now but before we do say goodbye is a couple of questions craig uh is it a mirror that's broken to the left of you what is that left me it looks like you got angry and smashed it up no that's later tonight right and it's uh a couple of pictures and and that thing yeah the nutcracker yeah yeah christmas decorations um yeah how tall is it craig it's got to be the same size as me isn't it that's not hard uh no it's bigger than three foot six it's i'm looking at you want me to go and stand next to you yeah yeah bring it over

34:21hold on boys hold on there you go has he got a name

34:28that is huge much taller than you dan i need to get a hat like that then i'll be sorted beautiful thank you craig apparently craig will be back in the studio tomorrow much appreciated Puffin over everybody Yeah, lovely I won't be I won't be No? Okay, well that's a I've got an echo That's very much an inside joke as I think the purpose is on today Gab and Jules they don't care about echoes they are on of course twice a week be sure to join them for the latest edition of their show

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36:56Let's take a look at the bottom of the table. Spurs are in action against Brentford. That was 0-0. Some of us didn't want to talk about it, some of us do, so we have to bow to the producer. Jules, Thomas Frank, how much trouble is he in?

37:13It's a great question, Dan. I mean, for sure, it's a nice performance against his former club, obviously, that was the Thomas Francis derby, didn't do him any favour. Because again, and I'm not saying it's easy to go away at Brentford and in the league at this time of the year, all of that. But in terms of what we saw his Tottenham team doing with the ball, there was just nothing there again. And it's not the first time he's home and away against bigger team, smaller team, average team, whatever you want in Europe, anything. it's just the same there's not enough creativity there there's not enough patterns of play there's just not enough happening with the ball and yet they didn't concede today great uh second game in a row okay i get that defensively they might be better than what they were under ang post-eco glue because anyone let's be honest would have made this team better defensively considering angie didn't care about defending anyway so if that's all really after what eight months in charge pretty much.

38:13He started on July 1st and now he's on July 1st. This is not good enough. I'm sorry and I don't think he's under pressure of losing his job but the 12th in the table and he's a little bit better than Champions League, just about. But it's not enough from him. I think you would expect much more if you were the ownership at that club, people above him and also the supporters.

38:35Frank Leboeuf:Your boys are Spurs fans. Shaq, how's he dealing with it? I don't think any Spurs fan is dealing with what you see from Spurs. this season very well at all. Listen, I'm a little bit more sympathetic towards Thomas Frank. Why? I think that that Spurs team is littered with very average players. And I question how much Thomas Frank had to do with it in that. And I base that, albeit on the signing of Tell, who was zero-known last season, didn't do anything, was signed before Thomas Frank was appointed as full-time manager. And while now I know Daniel Levy has since moved on, you just wonder how many of those summer signings were really directed by Thomas Frank.

39:21Frank Leboeuf:And if you see not many or only a couple, maybe Kolo Moani later on, but you look at this dressing room from top to bottom, and it is littered with a lot of average footballers. As a result, an average league position. And I'm not sure that Thomas Frank bears the full responsibility of that. We'll end our Premier League review with a game that actually had goals. Two of them. Oh, OK. Crystal Palace. I didn't realise that was a load. Yeah, I'm not sure. Crystal Palace taking on Fulham. And it would be Palace who would take the lead. Nice run here from Nathaniel Klein. Plays it into Mateta, who makes it 1-0.

39:58Frank Leboeuf:Yeah, it's a really nice run. And a ball that just stood up for Mateta. And you know how Mateta drift off of you as you do here to fight in space? There's only ever going to be one result. Ten minutes to go though, Fulham get the equaliser, lovely finish here from Kearney. Yeah it really is, top of the box, takes a touch and it really is a nice finish. Long way off but just settles himself, uses the defenders a little bit of a sighter. Can we give you a nice save to round out? Yes please, Henderson here, Castagne with his shot, I mean it's a little bit of a ping ball, it falls to him kindly but when Castagne hits this I think it's in, Dean Henderson producing absolute heroics.

40:40A late chance here from Fulham to take all three points. Goldmouth scramble, we'd see. Anderson put it over the box.

40:45Frank Leboeuf:Oh, boy. Oh, boy. I mean, all you have to do is get over this. You have more time than I think you realise. The sky's as effort. Meanwhile, Brendan Johnson on his way to Palace, according to reports. Going to join for£33.5 million, about$40 million. Transitor talk is back. Be sure to check out every single day exactly what is going on between now and the end of the window at the end of January. We started off with Frank. There he went. Craig went. But Jules and Shaka remain with us. But for how long we'll find out in extra time is coming up next.

41:34Welcome in then to the latest edition of Extra Time. Jules is with us. We've lost Frank. We've lost Craig. Shaka though. I'm stuck. I'm here. What do you mean stuck? No. That's not what I mean.

41:44Frank Leboeuf:If you ask me any Thomas Frank questions, I'm gone. That's the last question. That's gone. Another that. Who made it to midnight last night? Jules. Yeah, we had a big big party our friends in in Windsor loads of us. Yeah, it was very good We played Traitors, you know the game. Yes, Dan, you'll be familiar with it. I think yeah Shaka, I'm not sure though. That would be great in the house. I think it would be good. It's a great game I mean, it's a great game because you need to lie a lot and you know Feed people and all that concern, but it was brilliant. It was very right. Oh very good Who was the nice is very niche who was the Alan Carr character?

42:27Oh, I knew you would come up with this. It was brilliant. My oldest one was one of the traitors. Yeah. And we busted him. It was just the whole thing was brilliant. Oh, very good. Shaq?

42:40Frank Leboeuf:Has it still up all day? No, not all day. Up to midnight. No, I mean, without a little nap. No, you can have a nap beforehand. That's a lot. How about... Because it's you, Shaq. I had a little nap about 10 o 'clock. Oh, in the evening? Yeah. Yeah. You woke up? I woke up. Did you? You know, 15 minutes now. Oh, nice. And then I got to midnight. We did all the New Year's. Spanish New Year at six, English at seven, Brazil at ten, and then New York at midnight. Oh, good. Lovely. You had to celebrate all? I did one. Had a little nap. That's fair enough. Xhaka is unfair to criticise Maresca because we don't know whether the physios and board dictated which players needed rest and which needed more minutes.

43:22Frank Leboeuf:If that's the structure of the football club, that the physios hand down this information and you have to respect it, then so be it. I mean, there are other clubs, and certainly back in Ardine, the manager would have the final say on all those things. Even if the physios said, yeah, he's injured, and the manager said, yeah, he's going to play a half, he's going to play a half. But the game is not run that way, it's not managed that way. But if that's how the club is run, that's how the club is run. and can't complain about that after the fact. Jules, I remember us talking, I think maybe it was the result against Leeds, a discussion, so why isn't Rhys James playing?

44:00He was the best player against Arsenal. Those sort of things, are they dictated by the physios more at Chelsea than we see at other clubs? On some players, for sure, but there was too many changes, too much to just put that on. He has to be rested or he can only play 20 minutes of the day. There was too many. Because the thing is, and why I struggle a little bit with that, not so much the question, but this whole debate, it's the same in every club. And every manager, whatever the level, would not be happy if you say your star player can only play 20 minutes today or he has to come off after 60 minutes.

44:40It would be the same with Arteta and Saka, with Guardiola and Haaland, with everybody, with Slott and Salah Lassidun, for example. So every manager in the world would try to go against that because they would need Saka or Haaland or Salah on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes. So for me, I can't just explain everything and all the tensions and all of that because it's the same in every club really and maybe it's a bit more difficult there. I don't know exactly the relationship between Mareska and that medical staff, but it's very similar in a lot of clubs with a lot of managers. Yeah, my good friend Liam Rossenoir is coming in.

45:18Rossenoir. I know, Shaka.

45:21Frank Leboeuf:You keep butchering that. You're not joking. You're butchering the poor guy's name. Oh, Rossenoir, I'm going to push for it. No, no, please don't. I think it sounds more fancy. I think he's got a better chance to get the job. Please don't. Please don't. Shaka, is it unfair to criticise Maresca because we don't... Oh, no, we've done that one. Oh, good Lord. Happy New Year. How many naps did Shaka have during the duration of the Premier League games today? I'm proud to say I didn't fall asleep. I have time, Liverpool, until the 96th minute. I came in here. Right. But you saw something right behind me.

45:56I just did. What's he going to do? Oh, you know, I just... Talk to you about... Now, if you started talking about Spurs, that would put you to sleep. Oh, well, he was all hyped for the Spurs game. Yes. He was all hyped off. Of course, yes. At least Xavi Simons wasn't playing. Talk about him. Jules, thoughts on Endrick at Lyon, and do you think you'll make an impact? I think it's a wonderful signing for Lyon to start with because he's a great player to start with. He's a great name as well. I think it's an amazing coup for Ligue 1. Is it alone, Jules? Is it permanent? Sorry to interrupt. Yeah. No, it's just a six-month loan.

46:31So we know he's going to go back to Real Madrid in the summer. But still, for six months, you take him. Lyon badly, I think, needed a quality number nine. Not that Satriano is not very good, but it's just that Hendrik is much better. And I think they were crying out for a player like him. Paulo Fonseca, I think, played a big part in attracting him to Lyon and him not going to an English club or Italian clubs. He had a lot of clubs who wanted him. So I just can't wait. He seemed very excited. They've gone back to training already. So he's been taking part of that. And also for him to go to the World Cup, he needs to play.

47:05And he knew that Real Madrid, that would not be the case. he wanted a Champions League club for Lyon, he would have to settle for the Europa League, but at the top of the Europa League, in the league phase, you know, so they've got a great chance to go far in that competition and Hendrik will add so much quality to that team, he'd be great. We mentioned this, Shaq, during the show. Isn't it better that Ekotike tries to stay on his feet and produce a goal rather than just go down in the box while being held, but what's the upside for the player if refs won't give the call in their favour if they don't go down?

47:36Frank Leboeuf:The refs should give the call in their favor. And that's my point. You shouldn't have to go down to get that call. Otherwise, you just get players going down too easily. Every single time trying to buy the call. If it's a foul, whether he hits the deck or not, it's a foul. And the referees, these are professional referees, I think have an obligation to give that call. It's not an equity to go down. Jules? Yeah, I agree with Shaka. On French television, Olivier Dacour, you know, the former France International and Everton Pérez player, said that he should have gone down and would have got... You should not have to go down because it's a foul whether you stay on your feet or not anyway.

48:21And I think he would have looked a bit weird if he'd let himself down. But the referee could easily have given that as a foul, even the way that the whole thing happened. Welcome to 2026.

48:34Frank Leboeuf:Thank you. We've entered a World Cup year, Jules. Provided everyone is fit, what will the starting front four for France be this summer? Oh, boy. It's a great question, because my oldest one asked, we were talking during the City game. He's a traitor, don't listen to him. The same question. He's a traitor, that's very true. So, and you know I'm going to say I'm biased and arrogant and everything you want. I don't care what you two say anyway. Wow. We don't know. We've got six incredible players for those four positions. Okay, give us the six.

49:19Mbappé, Dembélé, Douai, Barcola, Cherki and Olyssé. So four of those six will start. I would think that Barcola is slightly below the other five. Dembele is right at the top, Dembele is just behind. So, Mbappé, Dembele, guaranteed. And then I think Olisse, Cherky and Dwey, it will be those three for the rest, the other two positions. I think Olisse, Deschamps loves him. And then Desiree Dwey, I think there's something a little bit special, but so is with Ryan Cherky, especially with the season that he's having. So, it's hard to call between those five who will get the four tickets. but I would go probably for Cherki, Dembele, or Lissier and Mbappe.

50:04Frank Leboeuf:It's not bad, is it? Not bad at all. Does that mean England not gonna win? England not gonna win. All right. That was a quick change of heart. Not a chance. Oh, boy. I've had to do a betting column for the new year, and I've said Spain. You said Spain, oh, okay. Yeah, I think Spain are brilliant. France have got so much quality, but they've had quality before, and just, they go a bit for inch. They're choked. Oh, okay. Getting a bit of a friendship. What do you mean? We've reached the last two finals. And then what happened? 40-year-old Lionel Messi took over. You don't lose your money anyway.

50:39Who do you want to win the World Cup? Turn around to Beagle. That's so bad. Who do you want to win the World Cup? Turn around to Beagle. Obviously... Do you have a... No. Anyone you don't want to win? I don't care. I thought you did football Americas. You should be... England. Surely you don't want England to win. Shut up, Jules. I'm very neutral here. That would be unbearable if England win the World Cup. Who do your kids support, Jules, given they were born in England?

51:07France, every single day. And then Wales, not even close for England.

51:12Frank Leboeuf:France and Wales? Oh, boy. My little man is... And my family. USA and England. Yeah? Yeah, yeah. That's fair enough. Yeah. You played for England, Shaq. Under 23s. Well, still, it's more than me and Jules did. Oh, I have to ask the last question. Why the pundits say Thomas Frank is clearly a good coach when literally no sign of anything after six months at Spurs? The most boring football scene in my 48 years supporting. That's a lifetime's punishment, isn't it? Jules? Yeah, I think Sam is right in terms of how poor the football is that they're playing. but then what he did at Brentford I think shows that he's a good coach the issue I have you can be a great coach for a smaller club or like a mid-table club if you want, that doesn't guarantee that you'll be a great coach for a great club and Spurs is a great club and right now either he's out of his depth really by the size of the task and the size of the club that he's managing now or he just hasn't grasped what he has to do and how much he has to step up, but he needs to do this very quickly, otherwise it's just not going to work.

52:26Frank Leboeuf:Too many average players, I'll keep seeing it. So you'll give Thomas Frank a pass, he's a good coach. Yeah, I think he showed that to Brentford. He's just got a bad hand. Very bad hand. All right then, well thank you very much everybody. ESPN FC returns tomorrow where I expect there'll be much more talk about Chelsea. There'll be a lot of coughing. And who will be their new coach? Yeah, well... Will it be? No, stop butchering your man's name. Oh God. Goodbye.

53:10Frank Leboeuf:From 30 for 30 podcasts.

53:20Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripping. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit.

53:33Frank Leboeuf:You want the truth. They just want a conviction. They're being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.