Enzo Maresca Thread

[Mhsc 1,091]

There's no point getting rid of him unless the strategy changes tbh

He is genuinely a very good option for Clearlake:

- Does what he's told

- Says what he's told

- Plays the style of football Boehly had in his vision (i.e. slow patient football, dominating the midfield, copying the football Pep used during his successful run)

- Deep tactical understanding about how to play that style of football as best as possible with the group of players at his disposal, no interest in deviating from the strategy whatsoever

- Tolerates a group of kids and retards (one of the few people in the world that can work with Paul W and co)

- No real urgency to win things or work for a big club, he's young and not in a hurry, just happy to be here getting the career experience

He's actually a reasonably unique fit for them and I doubt they'll consider getting rid of him in normal circumstances - that would be admitting failure of the concept and the project itself. If we do admit that, you start much higher - get a CEO in and have the owners step away to be more distant, new sporting directors in and remove the dogmatic vision the club has around recruitment + style of play. Then see if Maresca makes sense or not (probably not, but until then, he should stay IMO).

Edited April 28 by Mhsc

[King Kante 1,643]

21 hours ago, Mhsc said:

There's no point getting rid of him unless the strategy changes tbh

He is genuinely a very good option for Clearlake:

- Does what he's told

- Says what he's told

- Plays the style of football Boehly had in his vision (i.e. slow patient football, dominating the midfield, copying the football Pep used during his successful run)

- Deep tactical understanding about how to play that style of football as best as possible with the group of players at his disposal, no interest in deviating from the strategy whatsoever

- Tolerates a group of kids and retards (one of the few people in the world that can work with Paul W and co)

- No real urgency to win things or work for a big club, he's young and not in a hurry, just happy to be here getting the career experience

He's actually a reasonably unique fit for them and I doubt they'll consider getting rid of him in normal circumstances - that would be admitting failure of the concept and the project itself. If we do admit that, you start much higher - get a CEO in and have the owners step away to be more distant, new sporting directors in and remove the dogmatic vision the club has around recruitment + style of play. Then see if Maresca makes sense or not (probably not, but until then, he should stay IMO).

1) With the current squad, that only happens when Lavia plays. Without him we are always wide open for counter attacks through midfield as Enzo has no pace or interest in tracking his man and Caicedo is a ball chaser. 

2) Does he? He appears to want to play Pep ball in 2nd gear all the time, despite the situation or opposition. Pep's teams are a lot more dynamic in the final third and shift gears when required. Actually he play is more akin to Sarri which was even seen as too boring for Italian football. I am not sure that is what BlueCo actually had in mind. 

Edited April 29 by King Kante

[Mhsc 1,091]

17 minutes ago, King Kante said:

1) With the current squad, that only happens when Lavia plays. Without him we are always wide open for counter attacks through midfield as Enzo has no pace or interest in tracking his man and Caicedo is a ball chaser. 

2) Does he? He appears to want to play Pep ball in 2nd gear all the time, despite the situation or opposition. Pep's teams are a lot more dynamic in the final third and shift gears when required. Actually he play is more akin to Sarri which was even seen as too boring for Italian football. I am not sure that is what BlueCo actually had in mind. 

Pep took time and a pretty expensive squad building process too

I'm sure Maresca can play the tedious Pep approach and win if given cheat code players like prime De Bruyne and co

Whether it is a good idea to take an approach that was successful in the past but required infinite money and 115 violations to make work is another question 

Liverpool have shown a few times its not the only way to win the league and operate as an elite club and plenty of other successful clubs in the world playing different football to slow positional play. In the end all strategies have their era and get fazed out as new ideas get introduced. Seems very brave to build an entire vision for a whole club to play exclusively one approach - fine if teh approach turns out to be the right system for the next 10 years, but what if we build it all for a lot of money and it turns out a more aggressive style like Liverpool play is the new meta?

Edited April 29 by Mhsc

[ZAPHOD2319 4,798]

A good watch on the current state and this team building that might not be the way to go.

 

[Blue Armour 4,436]

In his last game he said he was glad that Jackson broke his scoring drought. He then said he hopes Palmer does the same. Pretty wanting, considering he chopped the squad or at least allowed it to become overly reliant on these 2 players.

Maybe he needs to have a couple of more elite players at his disposal.

We certainly need at least one more elite player to join the back line.

ATM, any chances of having clean sheets hinge on Sanchez being 100% on form.

[Strike 7,474]

He comes across as insufferable in press conference. Always playing the victim and taking no ownership of what has been an average team for few months now. 

[DDA 9,924]

Can’t stand him. Can’t get through more than 1 minute of his press conferences… he is soo uninspiring.

[Special Juan 28,087]

Blokes a fucking clown, but his words and ways are perfect for the owners

[Reddish-Blue 2,488]

On 30/04/2025 at 03:13, Mhsc said:

I'm sure Maresca can play the tedious Pep approach and win if given cheat code players like prime De Bruyne and co

He'd probably fall out with a player like prime De Bruyne as he doesn't have the winning mentality or experience of Pep. 

Pep went through Barcelona, Bayern Munich before City. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,488]

On 29/04/2025 at 05:52, Mhsc said:

- Plays the style of football Boehly had in his vision (i.e. slow patient football, dominating the midfield, copying the football Pep used during his successful run)

- Deep tactical understanding about how to play that style of football as best as possible with the group of players at his disposal, no interest in deviating from the strategy whatsoever

What style of football does he actually play?    We're definitely not dominating midfield, we just recycle posession for no reason and without Palmer in his purple patch of goalscoring form, we've gone from a 2-3 goal a game team to clinging onto 1-0 as a way to win. 

As for deep tactical understanding, he's NOWHERE near Tuchel or Conte or even Mourinho.  

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

Don’t care if we get top 4 & win this pishy pretender European trophy - he still HAS to go.

Cannot stand the thought of another season of him, the poor style of play, the excuses…. his decision making has been a huge factor in the way the team has fallen off also. Run Cole into the ground. 

[King Kante 1,643]

On 29/04/2025 at 18:13, Mhsc said:

Pep took time and a pretty expensive squad building process too

I'm sure Maresca can play the tedious Pep approach and win if given cheat code players like prime De Bruyne and co

Whether it is a good idea to take an approach that was successful in the past but required infinite money and 115 violations to make work is another question 

Liverpool have shown a few times its not the only way to win the league and operate as an elite club and plenty of other successful clubs in the world playing different football to slow positional play. In the end all strategies have their era and get fazed out as new ideas get introduced. Seems very brave to build an entire vision for a whole club to play exclusively one approach - fine if teh approach turns out to be the right system for the next 10 years, but what if we build it all for a lot of money and it turns out a more aggressive style like Liverpool play is the new meta?

I am not sure. Enzo's coming in strikes me as a very typical NFL/American Recruiting Strategy. Essentially they saw Enzo as being from Pep's 'Coaching Tree'. This essentially means because he worked closely under Pep he knows that system to the T and should be able to implement it at a new team but maybe with a small slight variation depending on where the specialised - Defence, Offence or Special Teams. 

However, whilst this is a great theory, typically these coaches aren't actually that great at being a head coach, as they're too specialist in a certain side of the game and typically last 1-2 seasons before everyone realises they cannot replicate the same system as they cannot manage and overarching strategy taking in all sides of the game. 

That is where Enzo is. He understands Pep's system but is completely fixated with the possession aspect of it, he doesn't understand this needs variation when required or when to spot it. This is obvious whenever momentum changes in a game or he needs to do something different- Pep for all is faults does make in game changes. 

Equally, BlueCo have fallen into the trap that because Enzo has worked so closely with Pep he should know what to do. 

 

[Blue Armour 4,436]

On 02/05/2025 at 05:07, King Kante said:

I am not sure. Enzo's coming in strikes me as a very typical NFL/American Recruiting Strategy. Essentially they saw Enzo as being from Pep's 'Coaching Tree'. This essentially means because he worked closely under Pep he knows that system to the T and should be able to implement it at a new team but maybe with a small slight variation depending on where the specialised - Defence, Offence or Special Teams. 

However, whilst this is a great theory, typically these coaches aren't actually that great at being a head coach, as they're too specialist in a certain side of the game and typically last 1-2 seasons before everyone realises they cannot replicate the same system as they cannot manage and overarching strategy taking in all sides of the game. 

That is where Enzo is. He understands Pep's system but is completely fixated with the possession aspect of it, he doesn't understand this needs variation when required or when to spot it. This is obvious whenever momentum changes in a game or he needs to do something different- Pep for all is faults does make in game changes. 

Equally, BlueCo have fallen into the trap that because Enzo has worked so closely with Pep he should know what to do. 

 

Another aspect that you can't replicate, even with in-depth knowledge of the tactics and formation, is personality.

And personality is a big part of being a manager at the highest level.

From the outside at least,  Maresca doesn't seem to have much of it. 

Maybe that will improve over time, once he gets winning and adding to his CV.

And this stage, he can't even get the best out of his star player., who is increasingly at risk of being labeled a one season wonder. And all Maresca seemingly does is keep hoping and pleading for Palmer to break his scoring duck. Comes across as weak and wanting.

Edited May 3 by Blue Armour

[YorkshireBlue 3,264]

On 01/05/2025 at 23:13, OneMoSalah said:

Don’t care if we get top 4 & win this pishy pretender European trophy - he still HAS to go.

Cannot stand the thought of another season of him, the poor style of play, the excuses…. his decision making has been a huge factor in the way the team has fallen off also. Run Cole into the ground. 

I mean champions league football and a trophy after the last 3 seasons is a W, changing the manager isn’t going to add experience to players that’s what’s actually needed, bored of hearing we spent 1 billion we should be winning….. yes yes we did on potential not WC ready players there is a huge difference. The manager is no favourite of mine but changing another manager after another year is exactly what we don’t need. 

[DDA 9,924]

Very good interview. 
 

 

[Bluepower777 31]

5 hours ago, DDA said:

Very good interview. 
 

 

Excellent performance except for Jackson, great win and good to see Palmer dazzling. We only need 1 or 2 decent strikers and a keeper although Sanchez has definitely improved recently. Jackson must be sold asap. We could have rather started with George who has much more brains.

[Mhsc 1,091]

Personally I think we've had a very nice progression this year, whatever happens in the league, just based on the eye test all season. We've gone from being a team with 0, and I mean 0 game management, to knowing how to control the pace of game, when to slow it down and when to speed it up, and how to see out the end of a game. We know how to chase a lead without going ridiculously OTT.

We know how to defend in a structure now as a cohesive unit, on and off the ball, how to press as a unit, when to drop deep etc. Our improvement in off the ball play has been literally that of a youth team with no clue turning into a mens pro team over the course of a season - just go back and look at how we were off the ball last year or in preseason this year.

We are not where we need to be in terms of on the ball play, while we are deadly if teams press high and try to play progressive football (even with Sanchez in goal passing the ball around), we are pretty hopeless at defeating a low block but even there we have improved IMO.

For me Maresca is several tiers above Poch in terms of tactics and the way he's developed the group - maybe Poch was good for getting them all to be friends, but Maresca has taught them how to be a team, both tactically and in terms of working for each other on the pitch.

I also think we saw how Maresca-ball is supposed to look in the beginning of the season and I thought it was good to watch. We have seen a collapse in form that overlapped with Lavia + Fofana being injured, NJ being injured and then out of form, and our cheat code player Cole Palmer being dreadfully out of form for 3 months. I really don't know what options Maresca had in that period to do things differently, the SDs should and could have handled January better and maybe we would be in a better place 2nd half of season.

Maresca does have obvious flaws and areas to improve in, but I don't think a better manager exists for this project. If we change the project (sack SDs / change vision), then it makes sense to move on from him. 

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

On 03/05/2025 at 22:33, YorkshireBlue said:

I mean champions league football and a trophy after the last 3 seasons is a W, changing the manager isn’t going to add experience to players that’s what’s actually needed, bored of hearing we spent 1 billion we should be winning….. yes yes we did on potential not WC ready players there is a huge difference. The manager is no favourite of mine but changing another manager after another year is exactly what we don’t need. 

He still has to go.

There is a huge reason why we fell off after the fast start and it was largely down the managers progression tactically and really poor squad management in terms of picking underperforming players, not certain resting players or even trusting some of the other guys in the squad a lot sooner. We were blitzing teams playing a lot more quickly and with much more attacking intent - then all of a sudden we became more and more laboured with the ball with this obsession of passing sideways and backwards. Amount of games I’ve seen this season when players have got the option to play forward and do not has been insufferable. Not even like in the final third, in our own half and the middle of the pitch. It is clear this comes from the philosophy of the manager…

A lot of the players are immature and lack leadership, the right mentality and more importantly, quality, so that also contributes but the manager definitely is a huge part of why this season has had its difficulties. Just as Poch was last season. 
 

On 05/05/2025 at 09:57, Mhsc said:

Personally I think we've had a very nice progression this year, whatever happens in the league, just based on the eye test all season. We've gone from being a team with 0, and I mean 0 game management, to knowing how to control the pace of game, when to slow it down and when to speed it up, and how to see out the end of a game. We know how to chase a lead without going ridiculously OTT.

We know how to defend in a structure now as a cohesive unit, on and off the ball, how to press as a unit, when to drop deep etc. Our improvement in off the ball play has been literally that of a youth team with no clue turning into a mens pro team over the course of a season - just go back and look at how we were off the ball last year or in preseason this year.

We are not where we need to be in terms of on the ball play, while we are deadly if teams press high and try to play progressive football (even with Sanchez in goal passing the ball around), we are pretty hopeless at defeating a low block but even there we have improved IMO.

For me Maresca is several tiers above Poch in terms of tactics and the way he's developed the group - maybe Poch was good for getting them all to be friends, but Maresca has taught them how to be a team, both tactically and in terms of working for each other on the pitch.

I also think we saw how Maresca-ball is supposed to look in the beginning of the season and I thought it was good to watch. We have seen a collapse in form that overlapped with Lavia + Fofana being injured, NJ being injured and then out of form, and our cheat code player Cole Palmer being dreadfully out of form for 3 months. I really don't know what options Maresca had in that period to do things differently, the SDs should and could have handled January better and maybe we would be in a better place 2nd half of season.

Maresca does have obvious flaws and areas to improve in, but I don't think a better manager exists for this project. If we change the project (sack SDs / change vision), then it makes sense to move on from him. 

I don’t see any massive signs of progress which warrants another year anymore than what we had with Poch last season though. Like there are differences but its still been a very mixed bag and a lot of the things that have affected us have been self inflicted due to the managers philosophy and selection choices in particular as well as more poor recruitment and player performances.

The last 2 seasons are pretty similar, particularly performance/result wise - but in reverse. We started poorly with Poch first half of the season and finished stronger in the second half. We started strongly with Maresca and ultimately have had a poor second half of the season. Yes we may get CL and win this Conference European trophy but we really have made a hash of a lot of games, particularly considering the start we had and some of the levels of performances in comparison to what is getting churned out. And the managers got a huge chunk to answer for regarding this too.

Our game management really hasn’t improved that much. We still try to play out so frequently which puts us in difficulties due to how poor we are in possession under pressure. Not to mention, we still look easy to play against when it comes to sides with more athleticism and physicality than us. Maybe we press better and have got the defensive line and shape a bit better from last season but we are still conceding daft easy goals and chances due to issues with the defensive shape as well as individual errors and lack of concentration - so its not really a massive plus side. It’s also pointless trying to control the game if it means your midfield players are reluctant to play forward under pressure or it takes 300 passes to get to the final third and your trying to break down 10 men. This improvement in controlling the game seems to have really stiffened the attacking play right up - again without Cole’s output would be curious to see where we are because we seen how badly we played when he was out of form.

Also, has Maresca drastically improved a lot of the players this season? Cucurella and Caicedo are both the only two to have made massive jumps for me. Fernandez a bit also but, like Moises, both are £100m+ players that if they played as poorly as they did last year again, questions would be asked of them. Still not entirely convinced with Fernandez completely because he’s is a passenger without the ball/struggles positionally and that’ll always make him a liability. Cole has continued from last season as has Nico, arguably remaining the most frustrating player to be played religiously despite his lack of consistency and extremely poor finishing costing us since Torres was here.

It does beg the question though, who comes in if Maresca does go? The owners really should hang their heads in shame though because we really are going to struggle to compete for the top top managers and top top players unless they change up their strategy. Lots of issues.

Edited May 7 by OneMoSalah