U21 coach steps in 

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No manager has quite been thrown into the deep end like Calum McFarlane at Chelsea. Days after Enzo Maresca’s abrupt exit, the temporary head coach was thrusted into a job that not even he expected to get, having been halfway to Windsor when he got the call. Caretaker managers aren’t exactly rare in Chelsea’s case, in fact they’re quite normal. But bringing a 40-year-old who had never coached a professional game to face the likes of Erling Haaland was a daunting prospect for any manager, let alone a literal rookie.

Yet for 94 minutes, his side fought for every ball and looked tactically comfortable against Manchester City, threatening to pull off the unthinkable. And then, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, they did it. Enzo Fernández struck the most unlikely of equalisers past Gianluigi Donnaruma, helping McFarlane pull off a 1-1 draw that would’ve felt like a win. In one of the biggest managerial mismatches the Premier League has witnessed, he took points off the great Pep Guardiola and dented their title challenge in the process.

McFarlane’s coaching CV includes non-league teams such as Croydon FC and Whyteleafe. But in 2020, he got his big break with City as an academy coach. His three-year spell in Manchester led him to take a role with Southampton, following Chelsea’s current recruitment chief Joe Shields to St Mary’s. Later on, the pair would reunite at Stamford Bridge when he was hired to take charge of the Under-21 team in July 2025. Just six months later, he was hoisted into the dugout after Maresca’s dramatic departure on New Year’s Day.

If McFarlane was feeling overwhelmed, he didn’t show it. In the days leading up to Sunday’s game, he gave several media interviews and spoke well in his first press conference. It seemed like he was enjoying the experience, rather than dreading it, and relished the opportunity to show what he is made of. “Once the sporting directors explained the situation and we figured out what I would like the staff team to look like, we made some calls and everyone came in at short notice on Thursday to get ready for what is a massive game on Sunday,” McFarlane said.

“We had a meeting on Friday morning with the sporting directors and the players, just to explain the situation and introduce the staff and explain how the next couple of days are looking. We’ve had two days training together. With an away trip you get a lot of time with the players at the hotel to find other ways to get your information across, not just on the grass. So we’ve had enough time to embed some ideas of what we want the game to look and feel like.”

The promising coach made five changes to the team last fielded by Maresca in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth. Moises Caicedo’s suspension ruled him out, but the triple absence of Robert Sanchez, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana was a hammer blow for the caretaker coach. Yet his side held their own in the opening exchanges of the game and even had a few opportunities of their own through Estevao.

After a quiet opening to the game, City turned the screw before half time as Haaland’s scuffed effort was tipped wide by Jorgensen. Minutes later, the Norwegian cut inside, curled one and rattled the post. So it was no surprise when Tijjani Reijnders finally broke Chelsea’s resistance with a powerful near-post effort. McFarlane’s men couldn’t make it to the interval on level terms and were struggling to keep the ball too, with zero shots registered in the first 45.

After the break though, there was a reaction. Andrey Santos replaced Estevao at the break, while Pedro Neto came to life on the counter attack before the Portuguese winger skied his effort from 10 yards out. At 1-0, this game was far from over and Chelsea were fighting, perhaps harder than they had done under McFarlane’s predecessor Maresca in recent weeks.

The nervous atmosphere for the second half spoke volumes about the threat Chelsea had posed on the break, and Cole Palmer really should’ve done better with a golden chance in the final minute. McFarlane’s professional managerial debut looked to be heading towards defeat before Fernandez popped up at the far post and scrambled home, sparking wild celebrations in the away end.

City vs Chelsea is a battle of the titans, but Guardiola vs McFarlane was very much David vs Goliath. To those who claimed he was ill-equipped to cope with the task at hand, he certainly silenced them at the final whistle with his low-key celebration.