Enzo Maresca Thread

[Vesper 30,156]

Enzo Maresca: «Italy can no longer keep up with the pace of other countries. I worked with Guardiola and I see football through his eyes»

by Paolo Condò

The Chelsea manager opens up after leading the team back to the Champions League and winning the Conference League: "On individual motivation, Marcello Lippi was an unsurpassed master. Inzaghi must be proud of his work at Inter"

https://www.corriere.it/sport/calcio/25_giugno_11/enzo-maresca-intervista-eb3131cd-70b1-48d7-815e-a7dae8855xlk.shtml

 

Enzo Maresca 's WhatsApp profile does not feature a photo, but a famous football quote: "It is statistically proven that during a match, a player's average ball possession is 3 minutes. This means that his value is determined by what he does in the other 87 minutes.
" "It's a maxim by Johan Cruijff. I had it written on the walls of the Leicester dressing room two summers ago, and we won the Championship. Of course, I did it at Chelsea, too, and it didn't go badly this year either."

Didn't anyone challenge her? Didn't anyone come and tell her that champions solve games with a play?
"Maybe they discussed it among themselves, but I didn't hear a single protest. The phrase needs to be understood. It doesn't minimize the importance of talent, but it underlines how you can make yourself useful even when you don't see the ball much."

His Chelsea this year finished fourth in the Premier League and won the Conference. Were these the expected objectives?
"We are a year ahead of the Champions League qualification, they had asked me for it in two seasons. As for the Conference, it is natural that its appeal is less than the other cups, but as I said in the first meeting, if Chelsea had qualified for that one it means they deserved to play in that one. To win it, and we won it."

At the start of the season your squad was monstrous: 43 players. From whom did you learn to deal with so many players?
«Well, some left. We made strong choices, because they were all quality guys but the squad had to be reduced. On individual motivation, Marcello Lippi was an unsurpassed master. The ability he had to talk to each player, get into their head and motivate them in the way that was right for them, which is never the same as that of another, was exceptional. I try to do as he did. I try».

The average age of Chelsea is very young. Is that why, after the various disappointing experiences with Potter, Lampard and Pochettino, the owner Boehly chose you?
«The idea of making me grow together with the team was there, because I did well at Leicester and because I come from Guardiola's school, obviously».

Chelsea spends a lot.
"But now they invest well, in the direction that modern football is going. Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo were paid a lot, but no one remembers their price anymore because of how much they have grown. Before, a lot was spent on players over thirty who had already given their best".

Look, he is photographing Italian football today.
"The premise is that I don't want to give lessons to anyone. Having said that, the Champions League final photographed the dominance of a young team, capable of great technical plays expressed at an infernal pace, energy, running, pressing, offensive talent. Luis Enrique has built a spectacular PSG, in my own small way at Chelsea I try to do the same".

How does Inter come out of this discussion?
"Two Champions League finals in three years are an achievement, not a defeat. Inzaghi must be proud of his work, also because he carried it out in an ecosystem that is now different from the rest of the world. Only in Italy do we continue to think that young people are always too young and that experience linked to age is what makes you win matches. It's a cultural choice, which costs you in loss of energy. This is how I see it, Italian football can no longer keep up with the pace of other schools."

Does it also apply to the national team?
"Of course. The teams collect the work of the clubs, how can you ask to rejuvenate if the youngsters don't play? Chelsea spent to set up a squad of very young talents, but this didn't stop us from beating the record of the academy boys who made their debut in the first team. There were nine. We all have faith in them, and in the work of those who weaned them".

That's what she did in the first half at Manchester City.
"Let's name one: Cole Palmer. In the elite youth team at City I had to develop a superior talent, today at Chelsea I enjoy a supreme talent. And every day I try to improve him in something."

Between elite coach at City and assistant to Pep, he had an unhappy experience at Parma.
«Short but fundamental, you learn from your mistakes and I made some there. However, I was taken on for a three-year program and kicked out after three months: the team still took the three years foreseen to return to Serie A, and the young players I worked on then, Bernabé, Bonny, Mihaila, are still considered young today. You can see that with me they were children».

 

Will Guardiola recover?
"After 8 extraordinary seasons, he has made half a mistake, and you already doubt that he will be competitive again? Come on. But I am biased, after having had the opportunity to work with him, I confess that I see football through his eyes."

Will De Bruyne do well at Napoli?
"I know Kevin like the back of my hand, he will adapt quickly to Conte's requests and will add a lot to Napoli. Like all great champions, he has boundless pride. I certainly don't question players over 30 of a similar level. I simply try to put the energy of the boys around him."

Chelsea are about to leave for the Club World Cup. What happens if you get to the final on July 13?
"The only thing possible: the Premier League restarts on August 17, we gather on the 10th and do a normal work week, as if it were winter. It will take us a while to get back to full speed, but the players need holidays. And the coaches too, eh."

[Vesper 30,156]

[ahmedou 189]

😅😂🤣

 

[ahmedou 189]

Nobody:

Maresca: 3-0 or more?

[Fernando 6,585]

So far my analysis was right that it was worth the wait with him and continue to improving the squad. 

This is what you get with  some kind of stability with a decent manager. And as i thought if improve the squad he will do exponentially much better. 

For squad building he is much better then Tuchel, and Conte. For winner mentality I still love Tuchel and Conte (especially Conte he is a monster). 

Since Maresca is young his winning mentality can grow as those two, first season and two trophies already. That should do wonders for him. 

And excited that for once we get a manager that is good with working with younger players, because Since Mourinho era we never really had that....I remember thinking AVB was going to be that one for us, but we never really had one. 

[Vesper 30,156]

On 12/07/2025 at 21:29, ahmedou said:

😅😂🤣

 

he was right

[ahmedou 189]

49 minutes ago, Vesper said:

he was right

wHo sAid tHaT

[ahmedou 189]

UPDATE: Chelsea HAVE WON 14 OF THEIR LAST 16 GAMES

[Vesper 30,156]

Chelsea’s positional fluidity stifled PSG, providing Maresca with a blueprint for next season

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6492813/2025/07/18/how-Chelsea-stifled-psg-maresca-blueprint-next-season/

Not many teams keep a clean sheet against Paris Saint-Germain.

In a long, quadruple-winning 2024-25 season, Luis Enrique’s side had failed to score on just five occasions before the Club World Cup final, but each of those shut-outs were qualitatively different from the blueprint that Enzo Maresca laid out for Chelsea on Sunday.

“The message was quite clear. We won the game in the first 10 minutes,” Maresca told reporters after the 3-0 victory. “The message before the game was, ‘Let them understand we are here to win the game’. It set the tone of the game.”

It was a statement that would not be out of place in a Sunday league dressing room, with players imploring their team-mates to “let them know you are there early” as an act of hostility. But Chelsea’s aggression out of possession was a crucial factor in their victory as they snapped into challenges and got tight to their Parisian opponents, particularly in the first half.

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PSG’s fluid positional rotations have the capacity to twist anyone’s blood, as so many of Europe’s elite sides have found out in recent months. Luis Enrique’s side can pull your defensive shape apart to create space with their movement. However, space does not score goals.

Chelsea’s adaptable defensive performance matched the fluidity that PSG looked to implement in possession. They were aggressive with it, but it was clear that every action they did off the ball, they performed with conviction.

This was clear from the opening exchanges, when Trevoh Chalobah tracked midfielder Fabian Ruiz’s run across the pitch to receive the ball. By shutting the passing option off at source, Fabian was unable to gain possession as PSG continued to circulate the ball elsewhere.

Chelsea were not entirely man-for-man across the pitch, but it was crucial that their centre-backs tracked their runners all the way when they were getting touch-tight to their markers — even if it meant being in unnatural positions at times.

Below, you can see Ousmane Dembele dropping as far as left-back to find a pocket of space, but Chalobah follows him all the way to force him into a simple pass, while Chelsea briefly shuffle across to form a temporary back three.

There were countless other examples, with Chalobah’s centre-back partner Levi Colwill doing exactly the same in stepping out from the defensive line to stop any danger before it grew — dovetailing excellently with midfielder Moises Caicedo, who would drop into Chelsea’s back line to plug any gaps opened by his team-mate.

This was even more prominent with an example later in the first half, where you would be forgiven for thinking that it was Colwill who was playing as Chelsea’s defensive midfielder and Caicedo as left centre-back, based on this image.

With the threat that PSG are known to pose in wide areas, similar communication was needed on the flanks.

Wingers tracking their runners is a tale as old as time, but the extent to which Marc Cucurella and Pedro Neto shut down the space and stuck to their jobs will have pleased Maresca as much as any of the three goals his team scored.

With barely four minutes on the clock, Cucurella pushes high to track Desire Doue’s run, dropping deep. As Marquinhos winds up to play the ball over the top, the Chelsea player deepest is Neto — who has followed Achraf Hakimi’s run back to his own penalty area, nodding down the long ball for Robert Sanchez to collect.

Such was Neto’s desire to get back defensively, that Chelsea formed a back five at times to block the space. The image below shows the outcome of a strong first 20 minutes out of possession, with no PSG player properly inside Chelsea’s compact block as they look to circulate the ball once more.

It was not exactly beautiful football at times — with Chelsea comfortable playing the percentage game by whacking it upfield and starting again in the first half — but it was no less effective.

It required plenty of communication, lots of pointing and a fair share of shuttle runs, but Chelsea laid the foundation for their performance in the opening stages, just as Maresca declared.

In fairness, their out-of-possession approach was equally as impressive in their semi-final clash with Fluminense, but that was based more on high pressing from the midfield and forward line.

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With the fluidity of PSG’s movement, Chelsea were unable to use defensive triggers in the same way to start a coherent press across the whole team. Instead, they opted to embrace the chaos with their front-footed one-v-one battles.

As much as anything, Maresca can use Chelsea’s Club World Cup final victory as a platform to show how much he can adapt tactically and curate a game plan to beat any side in European football. Such flexibility was the order of the day across the whole tournament, with Maresca using this summer to establish new ideas and strengthen the buy-in he has within the squad.

Will they use an identical tactic next season in similar, high-profile games? That remains to be seen, but the defensive discipline that Chelsea showed is what they can carry into the new campaign.

“For me, the biggest achievement this season is that exactly one year ago, no one was talking about Chelsea for football (reasons), but talking about the big squad, big money,” Maresca said on the Friday before the final.

“Now, no one is talking about this, but they are talking about the way we play, and the way we win games. This is personally the biggest achievement of this season.”

With two trophies won in less than two months, you can understand why there is now greater focus on the club’s on-pitch matters.

[NikkiCFC 8,316]

Vialli, Ancelotti, RDM, Conte, Sarri, Maresca... Italian managers = trophies. 

[ahmedou 189]

Coach Enzo Message

[Vytis33 1,268]

 

[Vesper 30,156]

Chelsea are more fluid, more instinctive. Their new faces are adding a whole new dimension

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6545386/2025/08/11/Chelsea-maresca-milan-leverkusen/

Pre-season, those tantalising few weeks when you’re not supposed to get too carried away.

But given Chelsea’s run-up to the 2025-26 campaign — eight wins from nine, including their Club World Cup triumph and two more dominant displays over the weekend in the west London sun — it’s hard for their fans not to be excited.

Chelsea have looked slick in possession, a team who seem increasingly familiar with the structured positional game second-year head coach Enzo Maresca has imposed. Defenders are comfortable on the ball, punching passes into a swirling midfield, while fresh faces occupy opposition centre-backs and run the wings.

The usual caveats apply at this time, but as the old guard develop their understanding and new signings inject exciting variety, there are signs Chelsea have what it takes to start the season very strongly.

GO DEEPER

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Across both friendlies at Stamford Bridge this weekend – a 2-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen and a 4-1 thrashing of Milan – Chelsea’s build-up shape was relatively familiar.

With Marc Cucurella pushing into midfield, the other defenders look to be progressive and break lines with their passing. Moises Caicedo is often the player most likely to receive the first pass, while Cole Palmer is given freedom to drift further ahead, where he can drop into pockets of space, receive the ball on the half-turn, and dance into dangerous areas where the front three await.

What has felt fresh, however, is the variety of avenues Chelsea have used to slice through the opposition press, pulling defenders out of position with patient, probing play before advancing with precision through the centre of the pitch.

In this first example, against Leverkusen on Friday, Josh Acheampong plays through straight to Palmer, who shows his technical ability to feign a touch before allowing the ball to roll across his body, quickly moving possession out to winger Estevao.

Ten minutes later, Palmer pulls wide during the build-up, allowing Cucurella to push on and make a dangerous underlapping run just out of frame…

… while in a later move, Trevoh Chalobah trusts Caicedo to handle a fizzed pass under pressure as Chelsea move the ball through the lines with a series of one-touch passes. Out by the touchline, Tyrique George finds the run of Cucurella with a clip into the box.

That diamond-like structure in front of the three centre-backs, with Andrey Santos replaced by Enzo Fernandez in the starting XI against Milan on Sunday, brims with energy and invention. Cucurella’s aggressive movement without the ball dovetails nicely with Palmer’s ability in the pockets, while Caicedo and Fernandez bring press resistance and defensive bite, should possession be lost.

The general shape is nothing new, but Chelsea’s build-up feels more fluid and instinctive, helping them move the ball forward with speed and precision, and find a new-look front three with more space to attack.

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In comparison to the midfielders, Chelsea’s front three have relatively few responsibilities during build-up; the wingers stay wide and stretch the pitch, while the centre-forward will ideally occupy the central channel, occasionally dropping in and linking up to allow a run behind the defensive line from a team-mate.

The names are different now, but familiar positioning within the system helps Chelsea’s progressive players find newcomers Estevao and Jamie Gittens with repetitive ease, giving them plenty of opportunity to display their dribbling ability out wide.

Here is another example of Chelsea’s build-up, this time when pressed closer to their own goal by Leverkusen.

Notice how Cucurella’s movement drags Robert Andrich forward, creating space for Palmer to receive another excellent line-breaking pass from Acheampong. The Englishman turns, and without even having to lift his head, sweeps the ball out to Estevao, who drives at his full-back and forces a good save from Mark Flekken.

It was Gittens’ turn to impress against Milan, another beneficiary of Chelsea’s increasingly intuitive ability to find their wingers in space.

After just four minutes, Tosin Adarabioyo pops a ball to Caicedo, who moves it out to the right and draws the opposition press. It’s a trigger for Chelsea to quickly switch flanks, going direct to the winger, who instantly squares up to Yunus Musah and wins a foul after a tricky step-over takes him to the byline. From the resulting free kick, floated in by Reece James, Chelsea take the lead.

On the opposite side, Pedro Neto rarely needed a second invitation to drive forward and hit the byline or cut in onto his left foot.

He teed up Joao Pedro’s first-half header after carrying the ball down the line and chopping inside, showing the value that Chelsea’s front-footed wingers can provide when the conditions are right for them to attack.

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Joao Pedro and fellow new striker Liam Delap both scored twice over the two games but, through the middle, their role in build-up across both contests was limited. Joao Pedro took 12 touches in the first half against Milan, where he was mainly concerned with occupying defenders, making darting runs and being alert for when the ball came his way.

Still, the former Watford and Brighton forward’s multi-faceted profile brings a lot to Chelsea, being equally comfortable playing with his back to goal as he is sprinting in behind. He was the player fouled by Andrei Coubis, who received a straight red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, a sequence kick-started by the Brazilian’s spin and run to meet a long pass by goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

Remarkably, Joao Pedro has now found the back of the net with five of his seven shots in a Chelsea shirt, having signed during the Club World Cup. It is an unsustainable run of form, but his touch around the penalty area makes him the likely starter at home to Crystal Palace in next weekend’s Premier League opener, with fellow striker Nicolas Jackson’s future at the club no closer to being resolved.

In an ideal world, Chelsea would retain Jackson’s distinct profile across the front line. He is a potent centre-forward on the transition who can tear through teams with powerful, head-down dribbling and lead breakaways on his own. According to Footovision data, Jackson had the most counter-attacking involvements via ball carries in the Premier League last season.

Still, with Delap — another who can ruffle feathers on the break — providing competition from the bench, Chelsea can switch up their No 9s depending on the task at hand.

Delap was desperate to make an impression off the bench against Milan following his arrival from relegated Ipswich, instantly chasing down and charging into centre-back Fikayo Tomori as he led the press from the front, before stepping up and confidently thumping home his first Chelsea penalty.

His second goal of the match captured the advantages of Maresca’s pitch-stretching build-up shape, as a threaded pass through the lines, a neat lay-off and a snapshot finish wrapped up another win in style.

It is, of course, extremely early, and there will be tougher tests to come. In attempting to press high but failing to bring the intensity required, Leverkusen and Milan played into Chelsea’s hands. Games against fitter, more physical Premier League sides and stingier, lower blocks will bring new challenges for Maresca’s summer recruits, who may not receive the ball in so much space.

Even so, the signs are encouraging, and it’s not just the new names who are raising the levels.

Positional football takes time to implement — in that regard, Chelsea look to have had a very productive summer.