In normal times squandering a lead against a key rival for Champions League qualification and falling ten points off third would be reason enough to assume the Chelsea manager is under significant pressure.
But at modern day Chelsea the picture is far less clear.
It seems nobody really understands what the board want, what they expect, or what the future looks like; a confused and confusing setup neatly symbolised by performances under Enzo Maresca that drift foggily between tactically brilliant and painfully naïve.
It has only been a fortnight since Maresca said “the last 48 hours have been the worst [since joining Chelsea] because many people didn't support us,” comments followed a few days later by a refusal to clarify his thoughts.
That particular week in mid-December ended with The Athletic reporting that Maresca was Manchester City’s number one target to replace Pep Guardiola, whom City believe will leave at the end of the season.
In ordinary circumstances that, too, would be enough to destabilise the situation and ensure that what followed - dropped points against Newcastle and Aston Villa - put Maresca under severe scrutiny.
But again, not at this Chelsea.
There is no talk of Maresca departing because nobody really knows quite what is expected of him. True, in theory BlueCo want to make Chelsea one of the best teams in the world but their words simply are not backed up by actions.
Chelsea only sign young players whose market value will grow and therefore they only possess inexperienced players unable to manage the psychological battle of a Premier League title race, no matter how smart the tactical instructions from the dugout.
It isn’t a new phenomenon, and indeed the board’s lack of interest in tweaking the transfer strategy reveals the true, real-world plan of the private-equity firm watching Chelsea grow in asset value without improving on the pitch.
There is only one thing worse than inertia. At this stage last season Chelsea had 35 points from 18 Premier League matches. This time they are on 29, on track to barely scrape the 60-point mark and almost certain to finish behind Manchester City, Arsenal, and Villa at least.
Fourth ought not to be good enough for a club of Chelsea’s lavish spending, and certainly it won’t be long before supporters turn on someone for a billion-pound net spend resulting in 12th, 6th, and 4th in the Premier League.
It may not be Maresca, because although he has never quite endeared himself to supporters at Stamford Bridge his tactical chops are self-evident.
Man City’s interest is not surprising when you study Chelsea’s performances, when you see the positional detail in the shape or the consistently innovative use of under-lapping full-backs in a hard-pressing and ever-rotating central midfield.
The issue is young forwards who blow hot and cold and centre-backs whose value to the club is their value growing. Chelsea have no appetite for signing elite footballers in their peak, the kind needed to make the final step and win a title – or at least compete for one.
At the end of the season it will have been nine years since Chelsea were last title winners. Much longer and they will enter Arsenal territory, which is to say the emotional energy will change and the desperation to end the drought will inevitably lead to missed opportunities, assuming opportunities materialise at all.
Before you know it ten years becomes 20.
Chelsea will not leave that path until the board make their ambitions clear, or rather, until they change, because by continuing to keep their medium-term future hidden their real intentions are revealed.
Maresca is a symptom of that stasis and uncertainty, not a cause of it. But at a certain point keeping him when results are apathetically consistent becomes a clear sign of the club’s lack of ambition.
Maresca is a potentially excellent manager they would be foolish to lose. Keeping Maresca would reveal their unseriousness. There’s that confusion again.
Chelsea’s liminal state is its defining, undefined feature. There is no way of knowing how much longer it will go on.
