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Enzo Maresca Thread

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Vesper

Vesper 29,031

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Enzo Maresca: Diet Pep or too risky? A Chelsea supporter seeks answers from a Leicester fan

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5524236/2024/05/29/maresca-Chelsea-leicester-fans/

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As Leicester City supporters digest the imminent departure of Enzo Maresca, their counterparts at Chelsea have been left pondering the credentials of the man most likely to replace Mauricio Pochettino at Stamford Bridge.

The Italian may have worked for Pep Guardiola, and even looks a bit like Pep Guardiola, but does he boast the same streak of coaching genius as the Catalan? What kind of tactics did he deploy in restoring Leicester to the Premier League at the first attempt? And can he manage up as well as down at a club?

We noticed some of those questions cropping up in the comments section of a piece on Maresca published this week, so we asked Dave Chidgey, a presenter on the Chelsea FanCast podcast and writer for the Chelsea fanzine cfcuk, to seek answers.

Step forward Alex, a Leicester fan also known as Ric Flair from the Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast, who has witnessed Maresca’s football first-hand.

Dave: So the first question I have for you is: are you disappointed he’s going?

Alex: Rather than being ‘disappointed’, we’re numb to it all. Maresca inherited a bin fire at Leicester. Although he was expected to get us promoted at the first time of asking, it was not a guarantee considering how quickly we’d nosedived.

He was already playing the style of football he wanted from us in less than a month, and that was really impressive. But fast forward a year and the reason Leicester fans might not be that bothered is that we’ve simply got bigger problems. The financial issues still exist. And we’re looking at it thinking, ‘Yes, he’s done a good job. But is he a great manager?’. No one knows. Is he a pragmatic manager that we might need next season back in the Premier League? Absolutely not.

He has one way of playing, and he’s unflinching and unwavering in it. No matter who you play, whether you’re winning or losing, he won’t change. And doing that with us in the Premier League…

Dave: A lot of Chelsea supporters are nonplussed about everything. These owners came in and, within a few months, fired Thomas Tuchel. Anyone after that is going to be a comedown. When they appointed Graham Potter most people thought: ‘Really?’. Pochettino split the fanbase given the Tottenham connections but, towards the end of the season, he was doing all right. So to turn to another manager — and not an ‘elite’ manager, for all that he won the Championship — has left us a bit perplexed. How worried should we be?

Alex: He’s got an aura around him that your fanbase will pick up on and that will put them more at ease. There’s something about him that suggests he is the real deal. Whether he is or not remains to be seen — it’s difficult to determine that after one season at a club who, effectively, should not have been at that level. And he nearly made a pig’s ear of it down the stretch, don’t forget.

So on the face of it, this might seem an outrageous appointment. A risk. But his ideas lend themselves to having elite players, and you’ve got some of those. And the intention to bring more in. He could do a better job than Pochettino. Yes, he’ll have to replicate what he did at Leicester early on and get off to a flier. But his principles lend himself to better players. He’s a disciple of Pep…

Dave: I’ve heard him called the Diet Pep…

Alex: He looks a bit like him if you take your glasses off, and talks like him. We all felt comforted by that aura, especially after Brendan Rodgers.

He is no-nonsense and sticks to his guns but I can see why Chelsea fans are concerned because he’s not got the credentials behind him. But look at Xabi Alonso, another Pep disciple, and what he’s achieved at Bayer Leverkusen. Enzo could be the same. And you may have snagged him early.

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Dave: Chelsea supporters are actually a fairly level-headed lot. We’ll give him a chance. We’ll back him. But our patience is fairly thin after the last couple of years.

He’s very stubborn, has a philosophy and a way of playing. That’s all very well and good if you’re Guardiola and you have some of the best players in the world, but I’ve seen an Italian manager at Chelsea who was very stubborn and wouldn’t change his ways or his philosophy — Maurizio Sarri. Some will point to him winning the Europa League, but really, Eden Hazard won us the Europa League. It had nothing to do with Sarri.

The best coaches are those who adapt to the rigours of the Premier League and change it up when they need to, tailoring to the opposition. Given that we’re not Manchester City and he’s not Pep Guardiola, if he just sits there rigidly refusing to change…

Alex: This was a bone of contention with Leicester fans. Guardiola has reinvented himself regularly with the systems and tactics at Manchester City. We didn’t see that from Maresca in that one season and he talks consistently about having a fixed way of playing. The modern football style, possession for possession’s sake, is boring, isn’t it…

Dave: Very.

Alex: You can understand why football teams do it, but it’s not going to get the pulse racing. Enzo is very much from that ‘retain possession and you control the game’ school. Playing on the counter, allowing basketball-type football, you lose that control. But when our lead at the top was whittling away with the team in a rut, and the fans were calling for him to mix it up in terms of the system or personnel, he didn’t. That concerned us.

In his defence, he didn’t have 25 players who could play the football he wanted. At Chelsea, he’ll probably have greater depth in quality. But my major concern is he has this vision and he doesn’t adapt. The Premier League is brutal. You can have a game plan and it’s up to the opposition to counter that…

Dave: And they do. By half-time, they’ve found you out. It happens within a game.

Alex: Exactly. Enzo, before a game, is very good at setting a team up to go into a game and doing X, Y and Z. His in-game management, though… a lot of managers out-thought him tactically within games. He needs to learn quickly. You have less leeway in the Premier League and there is an inexperience there.

Dave: Do you think we have the players to play the system he wants?

Alex: He needs a goalkeeper who has elite distribution.

Dave: So we need a new goalkeeper, then.

Alex: I guarantee he’ll come in for Mads Hermansen from Leicester. He signed him from Brondby and, with the ball at his feet, he’s sensational. He’s got a ricket in him because of the risks he takes, but his distribution is phenomenal.

Dave: Can he actually save shots?

Alex: Yes. He’s not huge but as an all-round goalkeeper, he’s very, very good.

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Hermansen has excelled under Maresca at Leicester (Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)

He’ll try to play an inverted full-back, and will want a left-footed defender who does not play as a conventional full-back but can operate as a left-sided centre-half but will also venture into midfield. So Marc Cucurella or Levi Colwill. Ben Chilwell’s days will be numbered.

He’ll have a defensive midfielder; not necessarily a destroyer, but someone who sits deep. That was Harry Winks for Leicester — he had no business playing at Championship level and found it very comfortable. He deployed two advanced central midfielders, ‘No 8s’, who would advance up-field and look to score goals. One of those was Wilfred Ndidi; watching Enzo turn him into an attacking midfielder was mind-bending.

The key positions are the wingers. He’ll rub his hands together to have Cole Palmer, whom he worked with at Manchester City’s under-21s. His wingers need to be very good in one-versus-one situations, but also defensively. They get through a hell of a lot of work.

Dave: Noni Madueke has a lot of potential and can probably fulfil that kind of role, but Palmer is way more than just a winger. I don’t want to see him haring back to perform last-ditch tackles. I want to see him creating and scoring goals. If Maresca could improve Mykhailo Mudryk, that would be massively impressive.

Alex: He rebuilds players’ confidence. Mudryk will benefit from him. I would not be surprised to see him get Raheem Sterling firing again, too. On the one hand, he’s very, very good with young players and will dip into the academy if he thinks there’s a player there. At the other extreme, he revitalised others at Leicester who were on the scrap heap. Jannik Vestergaard was ridiculed, but he revived him.

Up front, he’ll only ever play one striker — even when chasing a game. He needs a player who holds the ball up to feed the advancing No 8s and wingers. He also needs someone to press well. We didn’t have that ideal striker. He’ll need to get that position sorted at Chelsea.

Dave: Everyone seems to presume that Conor Gallagher will be sold, but he gives the side energy — that rather old-fashioned thing of putting in the hard yards, tackling and doing the dirty work, allowing the more talented players to create. He can lead the press. What will Maresca make of him?

Alex: He’ll look at Gallagher in the way he looked at Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, an academy graduate whom he turned him into our key player. He’d look at Gallagher as one of the No 8s and ask him to do the same as Dewsbury-Hall in the Championship; score and create goals. He will get him into the pockets of space and will like his aggression.

Ndidi was used as an attacking midfielder but we still leant on his defensive abilities to win the ball back. We would press and create changes by forcing turnovers close to their goal. Gallagher can do that. He’ll probably look to have someone like that alongside a Palmer centrally: one doing the ball-winning and getting into the box to score and assist, the other finding the space to influence things.

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Dave: With Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Tuchel, we loved them because they ‘got’ the supporters and the club. Will Enzo be that kind of guy, or will he be more aloof? One of the problems Pochettino had, aside from the Tottenham thing, was that he never really acknowledged the supporters. There was no connection there at all. And it’s important.

Alex: I can alleviate your concerns in that regard. Enzo is very diligent on building a relationship with the fans. At Leicester, he engaged. He’d go up to the Union FS, our singing section, after every game and demand all his players clapped them, too, at the end of the match. As a result, the fans felt he ‘got’ us. You’ll get that with him.

Dave: We love an Italian manager at Chelsea. If he bothers to find out about our Italian heritage, our players and managers, he will do very well.

Alex: He will be watching hours and hours of footage as we speak. Before he joined us, he watched every single Leicester game from the previous few years to understand what we were about. He lived at our training ground for months. He would immerse himself in the club, learning everything. He’ll do the same, I’m sure. It won’t be lost on him, the Italian connection.

Where it went slightly awry, our fanbase were a little bit frustrated with some of the football at times. Not necessarily because it was boring football, but we were the Manchester City of the Championship. Teams would come and play a low block against us. The atmosphere could be quite flat. There was no jeopardy in the games, and that built up frustration. He called out our fans and said: ‘If you don’t value me, I’ll be off. The moment I feel I’ve not got the support of the fanbase, I’ll leave’. So he will engage with the fans, but he’s also a touchy so-and-so.

Dave: I don’t mind that. Let’s hope he’s a little bit more Antonio Conte than Sarri. Conte fired us up, but he was fiery.

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But the key to Chelsea at the moment is keeping co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart happy, a concept I find utterly bewildering. Don’t put their noses out of joint. Will he upset the apple cart there?

Alex: So, the thing that our fanbase was most impressed with about Enzo Maresca was the fact he challenged our board and hierarchy more than any other manager ever has. He’s possibly come closest to any other manager to maybe getting some changes.

We have financial problems looming over us, and nobody seemingly pays the price for that other than the managers. So why aren’t our owners making changes at that director of football/CEO level? Maresca was trying to make us an elite team on the field and wanted Leicester to become an elite club off it, too. To do that, they needed to make changes board level.

He may see that ‘elite structure’ at Chelsea and keep schtum. But if there is an issue, he will reference it. It’s not a ticking time bomb, but if that’s a major problem, it will be exposed.

Dave: So new manager by Christmas, then…

Alex: Ha. Or, if he hits the ground running like he did at Leicester, you may well go on and win the league. You never know.

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Vesper
Vesper

I like him we chose well

Magic Lamps
Magic Lamps

This is still a a squad with 1bn+ spent on, so I don’t really like this “ahead of the curve” or “ahead exceeding expectations”. When you spend that amount of money, Top 4 should be a minimum requireme

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robsblubot

robsblubot 3,531

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nice writeup and info!

It's ironic that people were calling Pep an underachiever in the other thread, but "hitting the ground running" in the Championship managing freaking Leicester City was something impressive. 🤷‍♂️

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Vesper

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12 minutes ago, robsblubot said:

people were calling Pep an underachiever

anyone who says that doesn't know football

I mean that

bring the hate, I ain't changing it or backing down

54 topflight trophies as a player and manager

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YorkshireBlue

YorkshireBlue 3,126

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39 minutes ago, robsblubot said:

Mudryk struggles in any system at this level. 🙂 

Aside from Enzo, Cole, and James (when he plays), I don't consider the squad particularly skillful tbh. Jackson may have the skill to learn to slow down a bit with the runs tho. While I like Madueke as an option (a bit limiting as a starter), I think he would struggle in that system. Same with Conor... can't imagine City going for him, for ex.

Yes, hard work is how you get there (play like that), but to excel? for that you need quality as in lots of skill on the ball from multiple players. The goal is to make those exchanges very quick, and quickness (not pace but quickness at executing tasks) demands skill. Some players have more than others, which is one of the variables to think about when you are signing players.

I think our players are far more suited for a direct system, but that's me I guess. It could change with some action in the transfer window, so let's see what the club may be thinking. A ball-playing CB for the right side is a must as well as wingers and ST. 

To excel doesn't require as much skill as you would think, what it acquires is repetition over and over and over again until it's muscle memory almost, I do alot of racing and it's a similar concept, over and over and over again until you do stuff without thinking about it, now where I do agree is the higher calibre of player obviously the higher you can take this but all great teams do the basic and they do them amazingly well, this season we barely did the basics right, once you have the basics (foundations) you then build accordingly. I can see why you think these players would suit a direct style, but this guy managed to get Leicester to do this consistently with far lass superior players to do this, some say he had the best team in the lead and nearly bottled a 17 point lead, but he didn't find that 17 point lead he earned it and in the end he changed stuff about and got back to form. Do I think he's the best choice no, do I think he's earned his shot no, but I am kinda excited to see what a manager with a real philosophy and a proper type of style of play can do. Also just to add, people were asking for TT to come back yet he's just been absolutely schooled in a given league for BM by a young up and coming manager when TT probably had the best team in the league 

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ZAPHOD2319

ZAPHOD2319 4,520

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If our CB are healthy Colwill and Fofana will suit him fine, we definitely need another CB. RB is locked down between James and Gusto. LB with Cucu and Chillwell needs an upgrade. Our depth at midfield is loaded with him to work with. We have wingers, but outside Palmer playing there they are very inconsistent and not great at holding possession. I’m sure he can sort it out. We have no strikers. There are aspects of Jackson’s game that are nice but he will never be a true number nine and everything points to Maresca needing that. So when it is being said we need a striker, a left back, a winger, and a CB. It is correct. I think Maresca could revive Chilly, there is still a player there. Poch trying to make him a winger was not good. 
Maresca has some tools to work with. I think he makes Caicedo the beast we all know he can be. 
 

Then again…. I could be completely wrong.

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robsblubot

robsblubot 3,531

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1 hour ago, YorkshireBlue said:

To excel doesn't require as much skill as you would think, what it acquires is repetition over and over and over again until it's muscle memory almost, I do alot of racing and it's a similar concept, over and over and over again until you do stuff without thinking about it, now where I do agree is the higher calibre of player obviously the higher you can take this but all great teams do the basic and they do them amazingly well, this season we barely did the basics right, once you have the basics (foundations) you then build accordingly. I can see why you think these players would suit a direct style, but this guy managed to get Leicester to do this consistently with far lass superior players to do this, some say he had the best team in the lead and nearly bottled a 17 point lead, but he didn't find that 17 point lead he earned it and in the end he changed stuff about and got back to form. Do I think he's the best choice no, do I think he's earned his shot no, but I am kinda excited to see what a manager with a real philosophy and a proper type of style of play can do. Also just to add, people were asking for TT to come back yet he's just been absolutely schooled in a given league for BM by a young up and coming manager when TT probably had the best team in the league 

Would be nice if football were such a level playing field. Unfortunately, the big winners are also the biggest spenders.

So, if all that was required was repetition and good coaching, we'd see 1. less spending on players and 2. a more diverse set of winners both in league as well as CL. And yet we see the same ones, who again, are the big spenders.

Yeah I'm not against making a bet on the manager, but I'd not overstate what he has done so far (very little). The same could be said of Arteta, so I guess we will see. I just don't see that reflected when building the squad tho.

For the record, I get the expectation that he'd be able to do more with the better players we've got. However, he had *far superior* players compared to the opposition in the Championship. And my point has been that maybe "better" or "worse" is relative when we are discussing different ways to play football.

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ZAPHOD2319

ZAPHOD2319 4,520

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I see the Brentford set piece coach that Poch was not happy about the club bringing in is a part of Maresca’s staff. I was wondering how that would work out. 

—————————

Enzo Maresca's 8-man backroom staff at Chelsea were handpicked as he wanted access to the world’s most skilled coaching and technical staff. 

Each recruit was vetted by Chelsea to ensure they meet their own expectations and they will include: 

🔷 Willy Caballero – Assistant Manager
🔷 Danny Walker – Coach (offensive)
🔷 Michele De Bernardin – Goalkeeper Coach
🔷 Ben Roberts – Goalkeeper Coach 
🔷 Marcos Alvarez – Fitness Coach
🔷 Bernardo Cueva – Set-Piece Coach
🔷 Javier Molina Caballero – Analyst
🔷 Roberto Vitiello – Development Coach 

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Thor

Thor 2,441

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3 hours ago, Vesper said:

anyone who says that doesn't know football

I mean that

bring the hate, I ain't changing it or backing down

54 topflight trophies as a player and manager

Honours

Player

Barcelona B

Barcelona[249]

Spain

Individual

Manager

Barcelona B

Barcelona[254]

Bayern Munich

Manchester City

Individual

Decorations

He gets to play with the equivalent of the USA dream team in the 90s and he wins? Shocker. 
 

1 CL with City while having undoubtably the best team in football for 6 years is an underachievement. 
Same happened at Bayern. They had literally just won it prior to him arriving …

Tuchel and Klopp achieved the CL as well and had no where near the build up of squad settlement the years prior to joining. 

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Thor

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3 hours ago, robsblubot said:

nice writeup and info!

It's ironic that people were calling Pep an underachiever in the other thread, but "hitting the ground running" in the Championship managing freaking Leicester City was something impressive. 🤷‍♂️

He met expectations. What’s the issue? 

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Vesper

Vesper 29,031

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Enzo Maresca to Chelsea - why they’re convinced he’s the man for the job

Enzo Maresca will be the new Chelsea manager - unless something crazy happens in the next 48 hours. It will be a ‘here we go’ soon because the latest contacts between Maresca and Chelsea were super positive. Maresca wants to go to Chelsea and never had any doubts despite some reports suggesting that maybe he wants to stay at Leicester. Although he loves and respects Leicester, it’s been very clear ever since Chelsea entered this story that Maresca wants to be the next Chelsea manager.

Maresca believes in the Chelsea project around young players with a big future, he thinks it is a really exciting project. Meanwhile, Chelsea are convinced he’s a super talented coach and that’s why he’s a name appreciated by both directors and owners, all convinced he can be the man for present and future. Maresca’s obsession with ball possession, quality football, dominating the game, his knowledge of elite football despite being a young manager - all of this made the difference for Chelsea to pick him.

Talks are now really at the final stages, and it’s expected to happen soon. The salary is agreed and it’s just about the length of the contract. The feeling is that it could be a five-year contract, longer than they initially thought, and they are just discussing this final detail, but the feeling is that they are almost there. What’s missing is just an agreement between Chelsea and Leicester on compensation, also for Maresca’s staff, but it’s just a matter of days or maybe even hours and then everything will be done for Maresca to become the new Chelsea manager.

So, that will be ‘here we go’ soon and then it will continue to be a busy summer at Chelsea. It won’t be completely crazy but they will try to make smart things happen, including a new goalkeeper and I expect them to try for at least one new centre-back, but it could be two. I also expect Chelsea to be busy with the striker position, and I mentioned many times Benjamin Sesko, who is highly rated at Chelsea but also by others like Arsenal and Manchester United.

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Thor

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7 hours ago, robsblubot said:

I don’t disagree with the concept. Enzo Maresca (never heard of him before) is still a pretty big gamble tho… perhaps bigger than arteta.

I look at the squad and ask a simple question: which players here would fit right in at City or Arsenal? Who would work well in that positional play with high press and possession? Not many.

You also said our players weren’t that good and were no where near top 4 at the start of the season. 
 

Yet they were essentially a dodgy call against Villa from doing it. All this in an unsettled season with mass injuries. 

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Vesper

Vesper 29,031

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2 minutes ago, Thor said:

He gets to play with the equivalent of the USA dream team in the 90s and he wins? Shocker. 
 

1 CL with City while having undoubtably the best team in football for 6 years is an underachievement. 
Same happened at Bayern. They had literally just won it prior to him arriving …

Tuchel and Klopp achieved the CL as well and had no where near the build up of squad settlement the years prior to joining. 

nope

do not care

I am putting my foot down for one of the extremely rare times

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robsblubot

robsblubot 3,531

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3 minutes ago, Thor said:

He met expectations. What’s the issue? 

Met expectations leading a club like Leicester city back to PL does not mean a whole lot in my book. 🤷‍♂️

1 minute ago, Thor said:

You also said our players weren’t that good and were no where near top 4 at the start of the season. 
 

Yet they were essentially a dodgy call against Villa from doing it. All this in an unsettled season with mass injuries. 

And in the end not even Europe. 🤷‍♂️ You are probably counting on both United and Tottenham having a dodgy season too, to be fair. Are you seriously criticizing a prediction of mine that turned out to be right? 😆 I get plenty of stuff wrong... after all this is all entertainment.

I've also said that we did have a top4 team before they decided to dismantled it; spending as much as we do it's not that fucking hard to get a top4 team unless you spend all that money on "projects", of course.

Regarding injuries, it's only "an unsettled season with mass injuries" if the next one isn't the same.

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Vesper

Vesper 29,031

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3 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

The long and short of it is, we are putting all our eggs in the 'Pep's sidekick basket'

He will come in and this new and flashy philosophy and it will mean fuck all if the players don't buy into it. 

Rinse and repeat 

Arteta got buy in.

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Mhsc

Mhsc 916

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When they first bought the club they told Tuchel immediately they had a vision to build a club/squad around an attacking 4-3-3 possession / positional play system. Weird that this is the first manager appointment that actually fits the strategy they said they had all along. Feels like every previous manager was basically guaranteed not to last. Maybe they thought managers were more adaptable than they are, and they would just play that way if asked?

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King Kante

King Kante 1,502

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3 hours ago, Special Juan said:

The long and short of it is, we are putting all our eggs in the 'Pep's sidekick basket'

He will come in and this new and flashy philosophy and it will mean fuck all if the players don't buy into it. 

Rinse and repeat 

I prefer Diet Pep. 

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