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Enzo Maresca Thread

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ZAPHOD2319

ZAPHOD2319 4,819

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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. 

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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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DDA
DDA

I fucking despise this baldy prick. After a win like that, he should be trying to galvanise the squad by being positive post match instead he is downplaying then importance of getting top 4 to tr

JFKvsNixon
JFKvsNixon

I can't believe that people are questioning Maresca as Chelsea's manager, the difference between the two teams is night and day. Under Maresca we have patterns of play where we are much more effective

ZAPHOD2319
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Thor

Thor 2,717

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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

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Barcelona B

Barcelona[249]

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Barcelona B

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Bayern Munich

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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

Thor 2,717

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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 30,213

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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

Thor 2,717

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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 30,213

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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 3,595

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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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Special Juan

Special Juan 28,141

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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 

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Vesper

Vesper 30,213

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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 1,098

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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 1,643

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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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Vesper

Vesper 30,213

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Enzo Maresca: Why Chelsea have made Leicester boss new head coach

Enzo Maresca is set to become Chelsea's new head coach, replacing Mauricio Pochettino; The 'Marescalator' will take charge at Stamford Bridge after just 67 games in management, and one full season in English football with Leicester City in the Championship

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/13144295/enzo-maresca-why-Chelsea-have-made-leicester-boss-new-head-coach

skysports-enzo-maresca-chelsea_6567554.j

When Enzo Maresca arrived at Leicester last summer, he made a small but symbolic change to the club's training ground - to remember Claudio Ranieri.

At the entrance to their Seagrave set-up, players arrived to see images on the walls of Leicester's FA Cup and Community Shield victories in 2021. But there was no recognition of the miraculous 2016 Premier League triumph. Maresca decided to put Ranieri's title win on the wall alongside those achievements.

The move was less of a surprise given Ranieri was one of the first people to call Maresca when the Italian was handed the Foxes job last year. But perhaps another call is needed, as Maresca takes on another of Ranieri's former clubs in Chelsea.

Despite having managed less than 70 senior matches, just 53 in England and none in the Premier League, Maresca is set to become Mauricio Pochettino's successor at Stamford Bridge after agreeing terms on a five-year deal. Even so, he arrives with high expectations.

The 44-year-old will take on the job in similar circumstances to when Ranieri arrived in 2000 - with demands to reach the Champions League.

Pochettino's surprise departure from Stamford Bridge largely boiled down to the Blues missing out on the top four. Chelsea's owners watched last month's Champions League semi-finals wondering why such a stage was not within the club's reach.

But despite his relative inexperience, Chelsea do not just see Maresca as a manager capable of getting them into Europe's premier club competition. They want an attractive style of football, based on possession and dominance.

His attachment and schooling within the Pep Guardiola philosophy plays a major part in their thinking. A Manchester City-lite style of play is what Maresca has brought to Leicester during his year at the King Power.

That same patient play which ranks Guardiola's side bottom of the Premier League for forward-pass proportion year after year was embedded almost overnight - in the Championship only Southampton's percentage was lower than Leicester's last season.

"Maresca is so embedded in that Guardiola style of play that he was always going to attract interest when he was able to make that style successful - and that's what he's done at Leicester," Jordan Blackwell, Leicester correspondent at the Leicester Mercury, told Sky Sports.

"It felt like the club had thought outside the box to bring Maresca in, a man with a lot of tactical knowledge whose acumen has been raved about. That's not only as Pep's assistant but with Man City U21s and a first-team coach at West Ham."

The similarities between Pep-ball and the man known as the 'Marescalator' are noticeable. For example, Leicester brought in an effective use of inverted full-backs under the Italian this season.

Ricardo Pereira, the rampaging right-back Premier League audiences remember from two years ago, operated in the middle of the pitch in Maresca's season at Leicester.

But Maresca actually went one step further when it comes to his full-backs. If the Italian would rather invert a full-back from the left wing, then Pereira would simply swap flanks with his opposite defender, leaving opponents guessing as to Leicester's shape.

skysports-graphic-ricardo-pereira_656771

A good example came when Pereira moved over during a 4-1 win over Huddersfield - a match where the Portuguese full-back ended up with a goal and an assist.

This tactical tweak could be a good fit for Chelsea, who deployed Marc Cucurella as an inverted left-back during the season run-in. From the moment the Spaniard's position was tweaked at half-time of Chelsea's match with Aston Villa in April, the Blues won every single game.

Building from the back is another key feature of both Guardiola's and Maresca's games. One of the Italian's first signings was goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who not only became one of the Championship's top shot-stoppers, but was also comfortable with his feet.

Maresca would allow Hermansen to venture out of his goal to give an extra player in the build-up and form a back two with Jannik Vestegaard. Such moves would end with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall providing the finishing touch at the other end of the pitch, with the Leicester midfielder ending the Championship season with 12 goals and four assists.

skysports-graphic-leicester_6567713.png?

The identity of Chelsea's chief creator under Maresca is yet to be known, but signs could point towards a certain Cole Palmer, given the Italian oversaw his progression from youth prospect to first-team player at Manchester City as their Elite Development Squad manager.

Elsewhere in the final third, Maresca - like Guardiola and another disciple in Mikel Arteta - uses wingers who fall under the category of 'one-on-one explorers'.

Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu had the most one-on-one duels in the Championship last season. These are categories that the likes of Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have dominated in the Premier League in recent years.

Maresca is, like Guardiola, wedded to his style. He lives or dies by it. In the end, that has proven successful, but it is also why he will leave some detractors in the King Power stands despite leading them to the Championship title.

skysports-graphic-leicester_6567714.png?

A 3-1 win over Swansea in January took the Foxes 10 points clear at the top of the table. But it was overshadowed by Maresca's barbed post-match comments, after the Italian was less than impressed with a lack of support from the terraces.

"Probably people think it's easy to win games, but it's not easy," he said. "You can feel the fans when they're not happy. Probably some people take some things for granted. But it's not like this.

"I arrived at this club to play with this idea. The moment there is some doubt about the idea, the day after, I will leave. It's so clear. No doubts."

Perhaps it was the inevitable growing expectations. Perhaps the lack of jeopardy mixed with the playing style just fostered a degree of apathy; Leicester had won 22 of 29 league matches at the time of his comments.

But the growing lack of a Plan B would go on to cause further exasperation around the club, especially on a run of 10 points from as many games between mid-February and April.

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"Fans were thinking the club was eight months into the season now, clubs were learning how Leicester play and how to stop it, but Maresca wasn't doing anything to get past it," said Blackwell.

"They kept playing the same way. But that is him. He's decided what the best way of playing is, the most successful way, and he's not going to change it.

"He says he has a Plan B, but it has been Pereira playing as a No 10 when he moves into midfield rather than as a sitting midfielder."

This is not to take anything away from Maresca's methods. Harry Winks, who has worked under Pochettino, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho, has called him the best manager he has ever played for.

"The Leicester players have spoken about feeling a bit stupid when he came in, he was teaching things they'd never considered or thought about, totally different ways of thinking about the game," added Blackwell.

It took several months for his new side to fully get their heads around the consistent and relentless demands of his playing style, but his methods were evident and becoming ingrained even in a first pre-season friendly with Peterborough in early July.

Given those demands, Maresca was efficient at getting his message across. Winks himself noted another win over Swansea, only Leicester's 12th league game of the campaign and their 11th victory, as the moment where things really began to click.

Despite falling 1-0 down in South Wales, the Foxes stuck to their style, refused to be rushed, and wore their hosts down before emerging comfortable winners.

That determination, sometimes crossing the line into stubbornness, is unlikely to change at Stamford Bridge. But Maresca's public persona may have to, if he is to survive longer than his Todd Boehly-era predecessors.

The same evening Leicester wrapped up the Championship title, he used his position of strength to announce unprompted he wanted to sit down with Leicester's owners to discuss things he "didn't like" from the season.

The Foxes' rocky financial situation has been tempered by the embarrassment of riches in his squad, but communication issues with those above him have been a bugbear for the Italian all season.

They came to a head on Deadline Day in January when Stefano Sensi's proposed move from Inter Milan was called off at, literally, the 11th hour. The scale of the issues which led to the Premier League charging Leicester with FFP breaches, and the potential points deduction facing the club next season, were also seemingly kept from him.

"If Chelsea are looking for a yes man, he's not that person," said Blackwell. "He will say things in the media the club would probably be kept private.

"If you've got a manager who's willing to do public power plays in the media, that would put some clubs off. It doesn't seem to align with what Chelsea seem to want - but he is a pure coach.

"He's been quick to say he doesn't want more control, he's happy with his job being on the training pitch, organising the team tactically. He just wants to know what's going on."

In the new manager requirements set out by the Chelsea board, one of the categories included being 'able to compete with Guardiola and Arteta'.

Whether Maresca can guide the Blues to those heights is a major talking point, but if Boehly is looking for a disciple of the much-admired pair, he has found one in the Italian.

Edited by Vesper
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robsblubot

robsblubot 3,595

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1 hour ago, Artandur said:

It's kinda fun to see all these analyses pop up of how Marescas style might translate to our squad. Been a while since we had a manager who had such a clear tactical philosophy, where that would even be possible

yes and those type of managers, who have a clear philosophy and no plan B, need to play a part in building the squad. "passing from the back with Disasi" would make for very entertaining Netflix content.
That, and the fact that he is a drastic change from the previous 2 managers in style, makes me think this is not really that well planned eh.

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