Tactics Under Maresca

[StriderHiryu]

A new manager means new tactics! This thread is to analyse what the new man is doing, how and why.

 

THREAD BOOKMARKS:

 

• Northampton vs Leicester (Pre-Season)
  • Use of the Goalkeeper
  • Attacking Patterns of Play
  • Potential Attacking Improvements
  • Pre-Season Analysis (Video)
• FB Ref Radar Plugin
• Season Preview and Liverpool Analysis (Video)
• Coventry (H) Post Match
• Burton (A) Post Match
• Huddersfield (A) Post Match
• Cardiff (H) Post Match
• Rotherham (A) Post Match
• Formations and Shapes
• Hull (H) Post Match
• Southampton (A)
  • Pre-Match
  • Post Match Video
  • Post Match Notes
• Norwich (A)
  • Pre Match Preview
  • Post Match Notes
  • Post Match Video
• Bristol City (H)
  • Pre Match Preview
  • Post Match Notes
• Liverpool (A)
  • Post Match Notes
• Blackburn (A)
  • Pre Match Preview
  • Post Match Notes
• Preston (H)
  • Pre Match Preview
  • Post Match Notes
  • Post Match Video
• Stoke (H)
  • Pre Match Preview
• Swansea (A)
  • Pre Match Preview
  • Post Match Notes
• Sunderland (H)
  • Pre Match Preview

 

 

Enzo Maresca Tactical Introduction

 

We don't really know what he's going to do as we haven't seen any games he's been in charge of yet. But we do know he was recently Assistant Manager at Man City, was a manager in his own right at Parma, and was in charge of the Man City PL2 development squad. At Parma it was said he used a mixture of 433 and 343 and I imagine the reason for that is because a bit like Man City, his formation probably switches during the game. I also think this explains the purchases of Coady and Winks, and why we've been stepping up our search for a new Goalkeeper.

 

I recommend watching this video, as it gives some really good examples of what Man City (and Arsenal) do in order to dominate and control games.

 

 

In general there are some principles I think we will see Maresca use:

 

- Generate Superiorities wherever possible. Try to create situations where we have an overload or spare man in order to progress up the pitch or create an attack.

- Control the game. Dictate play by having the ball. Keep the ball by having players with good passing skills. Win the ball back as fast as possible to maintain control and force the opposition back.

- Compress the game into the opponent's half. It's hard for the opponent to score if the game is being played in their half.

- Attack the game. Use possession and control for a reason, not just side-to-side!

 

Changing Shapes

 

Man City would move John Stones in from right back to central midfield as the now infamous "inverted fullback." Arsenal do the same with Zinchenko, and even Rodgers tried it (badly) with Ricardo. And I think this will be a feature of our play again under Maresca too. If we setup from a goal kick in the shape below, then Coady would be in the middle of the three CBs. He has excellent passing for a CB and in this shape you can see that all of the back 5 have easy passing triangles to pass to. That means they will have superiority when looking to play out from the back as there will always be someone available.

 

 

In this setup a central box is also created, and here is where I expect we will see Winks feature heavily. Given that most midfields will have at most 3 players, the box means there is a superiority again as you make a 4 vs 3 situation in midfield. The idea is to pass the ball around quickly to lure players in towards us and out of their positions, meaning there is space vacated behind them.

 

 

We also know we are looking for a new Goalkeeper. And that would lend credence to trying to use the system described here. The goalkeeper would be an integral part of the attack because they are starting moves. The entire point of the back unit and midfield box is to get the opposition team to commit men forward and leave gaps, trying to drag them out of position, and then use those gaps against them. Here's where a goalkeeper that cannot find another player accurately will cause attacks to break down before they ever get started.

 

 

I'll leave it there for now as we haven't even begun our journey under Maresca yet. When the preseason games come round I will be watching them like a hawk! However, I think any new signings that come into the club will also be quite telling. We were linked with Joel Piroe and one thing about him is that he was playing in a dynamic system at Swansea where he did more than just score goals, but took up intelligent positions to drag players around, just like the Man City style system.

Edited 23 October 2023 by StriderHiryu

[tom27111]

I just hope we have a plan to defend.

 

Thats hasn't happened for the last 18 months, so a few clean sheets would be great.

 

Make us hard to beat.

 

I'm still so fvcking angry at this club, genuinely apoplectic, but I just can't stay away.

[ronnup]

Mustardball

[Guest Mee-9]

4-4- HMS PISS THE LEAGUE 

[foxile5]

Looks like an awful lot of passing between the center backs.

 

****ing get in.

[davieG]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

It's hard for the opponent to score if the game is being played in their half.

How many times have i said this to my son this season when for the 10mins or so we always seem to end up defending our goal.

[davieG]

I also hope he can do something about our awful throwins where we inevitably end up without the ball.

 

Its very noticeable when you watch us on tv where they tend to show replays when throwins are happening and when they come back to the game the opposition have possession from our throwin as I sit there moaning at the editing and end up saying WTF!!!!!!

[Vlad the Fox]

Don’t want to worry people but when we played man city at home last season I was sat behind the Man City dug out, every time one of their defenders had the ball he’d be jumping up and screaming “f**king lump it you twat”

 

 

 

[EastAnglianFox]

5 minutes ago, Vlad the Fox said:

Don’t want to worry people but when we played man city at home last season I was sat behind the Man City dug out, every time one of their defenders had the ball he’d be jumping up and screaming “f**king lump it you twat”

 

 

 

 

If our manager was shouting that last season we'd still be a Premier league team

[StriderHiryu]

25 minutes ago, davieG said:

I also hope he can do something about our awful throwins where we inevitably end up without the ball.

 

Its very noticeable when you watch us on tv where they tend to show replays when throwins are happening and when they come back to the game the opposition have possession from our throwin as I sit there moaning at the editing and end up saying WTF!!!!!!

Liverpool had this issue a few seasons ago and brought someone in to fix it. I believe that across football as a whole, teams are statistically only expected to retain the ball 49% of the time they take their own throw-in, which is one reason Arsene Wenger has suggested scrapping them from football. (That and it takes too much time).

 

It causes you to lose control of the game, so it wouldn't surprise me if Maresca did some work on this. Some teams actually deliberately put the ball out of play because they can reset their positioning and have a better chance to win the ball, so it's funny how a rule intended to give the attacker the advantage is now being exploited the other way!

 

 

[StriderHiryu]

9 minutes ago, Vlad the Fox said:

Don’t want to worry people but when we played man city at home last season I was sat behind the Man City dug out, every time one of their defenders had the ball he’d be jumping up and screaming “f**king lump it you twat”

 

 

 

100% that will happen. It's the same as people wanting to have 2 strikers up top and then not realising why you have less shots on goal with two up top than with one.

 

But it's OK, not everyone cares for the tactical side of the game, football is a hobby / source of enjoyment for most.

[Bluearmyfox28]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

A new manager means new tactics! This thread is to analyse what the new man is doing, how and why.

 

Now first up it must be said that we don't really know what he's going to do as we haven't seen any games he's been in charge of yet. But we do know he was recently Assistant Manager at Man City, was a manager in his own right at Parma, and was in charge of the Man City PL2 development squad. At Parma it was said he used a mixture of 433 and 343 and I imagine the reason for that is because a bit like Man City, his formation probably switches during the game. I also think this explains the purchases of Coady and Winks, and why we've been stepping up our search for a new Goalkeeper.

 

I reccomend watching this video, as it gives some really good examples of what Man City (and Arsenal) do in order to dominate and control games.

 

 

In general there are some principles I think we will see Maresca use:

 

- Generate Superiorities wherever possible. Try to create situations where we have an overload or spare man in order to progress up the pitch or create an attack.

- Control the game. Dictate play by having the ball. Keep the ball by having players with good passing skills. Win the ball back as fast as possible to maintain control and force the opposition back.

- Compress the game into the opponent's half. It's hard for the opponent to score if the game is being played in their half.

- Attack the game. Use possession and control for a reason, not just side-to-side!

 

Changing Shapes

 

Man City would move John Stones in from right back to central midfield as the now infamous "inverted fullback." Arsenal do the same with Zinchenko, and even Rodgers tried it (badly) with Ricardo. And I think this will be a feature of our play again under Maresca too. If we setup from a goal kick in the shape below, then Coady would be in the middle of the three CBs. He has excellent passing for a CB and in this shape you can see that all of the back 5 have easy passing triangles to pass to. That means they will have superiority when looking to play out from the back as there will always be someone available.

 

 

In this setup a central box is also created, and here is where I expect we will see Winks feature heavily. Given that most midfields will have at most 3 players, the box means there is a superiority again as you make a 4 vs 3 situation in midfield. The idea is to pass the ball around quickly to lure players in towards us and out of their positions, meaning there is space vacated behind them.

 

 

We also know we are looking for a new Goalkeeper. And that would lend credence to trying to use the system described here. The goalkeeper would be an integral part of the attack because they are starting moves. The entire point of the back unit and midfield box is to get the opposition team to commit men forward and leave gaps, trying to drag them out of position, and then use those gaps against them. Here's where a goalkeeper that cannot find another player accurately will cause attacks to break down before they ever get started.

 

 

I'll leave it there for now as we haven't even begun our journey under Maresca yet. When the preseason games come round I will be watching them like a hawk! However, I think any new signings that come into the club will also be quite telling. We were linked with Joel Piroe and one thing about him is that he was playing in a dynamic system at Swansea where he did more than just score goals, but took up intelligent positions to drag players around, just like the Man City style system.

One thing that got me thinking about this is whether Enzo will favour KDH? Seems the No.8 position contains a lot of focus on good first touch, retaining the ball and creativity. All things that is fair to say KDH’s lesser side of his skill set.

[urban.spaceman]

Gonna need this in GIF form @StriderHiryu

[Daggers]

40 minutes ago, Vlad the Fox said:

Don’t want to worry people but when we played man city at home last season I was sat behind the Man City dug out, every time one of their defenders had the ball he’d be jumping up and screaming “f**king lump it you twat”

 

 

 

PASHSHUN!!!!

[HybridFox]

Tiki taka sexy ball yeahhhhh 

[Scotch]

2 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

A new manager means new tactics! This thread is to analyse what the new man is doing, how and why.

 

Now first up it must be said that we don't really know what he's going to do as we haven't seen any games he's been in charge of yet. But we do know he was recently Assistant Manager at Man City, was a manager in his own right at Parma, and was in charge of the Man City PL2 development squad. At Parma it was said he used a mixture of 433 and 343 and I imagine the reason for that is because a bit like Man City, his formation probably switches during the game. I also think this explains the purchases of Coady and Winks, and why we've been stepping up our search for a new Goalkeeper.

 

I reccomend watching this video, as it gives some really good examples of what Man City (and Arsenal) do in order to dominate and control games.

 

 

In general there are some principles I think we will see Maresca use:

 

- Generate Superiorities wherever possible. Try to create situations where we have an overload or spare man in order to progress up the pitch or create an attack.

- Control the game. Dictate play by having the ball. Keep the ball by having players with good passing skills. Win the ball back as fast as possible to maintain control and force the opposition back.

- Compress the game into the opponent's half. It's hard for the opponent to score if the game is being played in their half.

- Attack the game. Use possession and control for a reason, not just side-to-side!

 

Changing Shapes

 

Man City would move John Stones in from right back to central midfield as the now infamous "inverted fullback." Arsenal do the same with Zinchenko, and even Rodgers tried it (badly) with Ricardo. And I think this will be a feature of our play again under Maresca too. If we setup from a goal kick in the shape below, then Coady would be in the middle of the three CBs. He has excellent passing for a CB and in this shape you can see that all of the back 5 have easy passing triangles to pass to. That means they will have superiority when looking to play out from the back as there will always be someone available.

 

 

In this setup a central box is also created, and here is where I expect we will see Winks feature heavily. Given that most midfields will have at most 3 players, the box means there is a superiority again as you make a 4 vs 3 situation in midfield. The idea is to pass the ball around quickly to lure players in towards us and out of their positions, meaning there is space vacated behind them.

 

 

We also know we are looking for a new Goalkeeper. And that would lend credence to trying to use the system described here. The goalkeeper would be an integral part of the attack because they are starting moves. The entire point of the back unit and midfield box is to get the opposition team to commit men forward and leave gaps, trying to drag them out of position, and then use those gaps against them. Here's where a goalkeeper that cannot find another player accurately will cause attacks to break down before they ever get started.

 

 

I'll leave it there for now as we haven't even begun our journey under Maresca yet. When the preseason games come round I will be watching them like a hawk! However, I think any new signings that come into the club will also be quite telling. We were linked with Joel Piroe and one thing about him is that he was playing in a dynamic system at Swansea where he did more than just score goals, but took up intelligent positions to drag players around, just like the Man City style system.

Like you said, I or any of us don't have much of a clue about how we will set up under Enzo but I think a lot of the assumptions you've made about how we will play is fairly accurate. There is another way of achieving a lot of the points you touched on that I would be interested to see us play. 

 

It centers on the 343 type formation, more on the defense as I see us starting a lot of our attacks from here. 

 

So let's say for talking sake we line up with VK and Ricardo as wingbacks. Faes at LCB and Coady central of the 3. The key to this would be the RCB who let's say is JJ. Now, as we know, JJ is a FB who is competent enough defensively but what we gain from him playing here is his attributes as a FB. 

 

Not only is he better on the ball than most CB's, enabling him to receive passes from the GK and play it out but the real benefit of this is when Ricardo goes forward. When this happens, JJ can comfortably do a couple of things. He can either push over to the RB position with VK, Faes and Coady all doing the same, effortlessly switching to a back 4, OR.... when Ricardo goes forward, JJ can join them. Overlaping and creating those overloads alongside Ricardo and the right hand side of that front 3. 

 

The front 3 would also be a big part of this. You would have your main striker, Nacho or Piroe would be perfect. Not really a target man but someone who can hold the ball and link play. 

The other two in the attack would play as inside forwards, almost 2 numbers 10's. This not only gives that striker someone to hold the ball up for and link with but it also pulls the opposition defense central, creating space on the wings for Ricardo and JJ to provide those runs that I mentioned. 

 

A good example of this working is Ipswich under McKenna or Scotland just now. We have Robertson at LWB and Tierney as LCB, alongside Christie or McGinn as that inside forward/#10 hybrid, they cause real problems for defenses when they flood that side of the pitch. Obviously we would have more possession than Scotland usually have but the principle is the same. 

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Bluearmyfox28 said:

One thing that got me thinking about this is whether Enzo will favour KDH? Seems the No.8 position contains a lot of focus on good first touch, retaining the ball and creativity. All things that is fair to say KDH’s lesser side of his skill set.

This is a level down though, he might be one of the better players in the division at doing it, and perhaps he can be improved too.

 

1 hour ago, Scotch said:

 

It centers on the 343 type formation, more on the defense as I see us starting a lot of our attacks from here. 

 

 

343 is definitely viable, and would definitely explain the Coady purchase. Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League with Chelsea playing that way. Nagelsmann and Potter prefer that system too.

 

But the most in-vogue thing at the moment is Roberto DeZerbi at Brighton who is using an innovative way of playing out from the back, via a 262 setup that creates a double box. Other than when they are getting spanked by Everton (cheers for that Seagulls), Brighton are the best team at playing from back to front in Europe. Yes even better than Man City or Barcelona or anyone, most top coaches including Guardiola think so. They deliberately use possession to draw teams onto them, where they always have superiority and passing options to create counter-attacks without ever giving the opposition the ball. Devious and very effective. Oh and who was RDZ's best mate at coaching school? Enzo Maresca.

 

 

^ Brighton's shape when playing out from the back.

 

 

^ The specific positioning of players when building out from the back. Notice how deep the striker comes, which is quite interesting. Would this suit Iheanacho?

 

Here's a good video about what he's been doing:

 

 

Now this all assumes Maresca is going to do something that has been done before. But who says he's going to do that?! Perhaps one of the appeals of taking us over is that it's a rare opportunity to try the next evolution of this type of football. He rote a thesis called "Football and Chess":

 

"The most important is positional play and strategy. For a coach it’s important to have the mentality of a chess player: develop a plan, study counter moves, choose the arrangement of the pieces."

 

If anyone can find his thesis, please link it here, as I could not. I am guessing that he's going to setup the team in such a way to make the opposition play in a certain way, and then counter it. Which is kind of how Brighton play. Think about how in Chess you can move your pieces in such a way to force your opponent's pieces to be less useful, like a bad-squared bishop, etc. 

 

Or I might be massively over-complicating it and we are just going to play 44 fecking 2 and smash the ball up to Harry Soutar

 

[moseeds]

It is going to be a fascinating season. Maresca has got a media machine purring already. He's physically styling himself on Pep. He talks the same footballing language as Arteta. He's possibly living in Kompany's shadow until he gets Leicester promoted.

 

He won't be able to play the 'final' form of his ideal setup but will need to transition towards it - and make a number of mistakes along the way. I can't remember a City appointment that's got so many people intrigued for the technical and tactical side of the game. Certainly make pre/post match drinks a bit more cerebral 

[Fosse93]

If Enzo goes 3 at the back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Thomas playing LCB.

 

A lot of assumptions that Justin will play the wide centre back role that supports down the right flank, but I think he's far better suited as a wing back and is dangerous going forward.

 

Thomas, despite a few glimpses when initially breaking through, isn't as strong in an attacking sense which makes me think Enzo might opt for him as the LCB.

 

Would also explain why we've been linked with Giles, who is an out and out LWB.

Edited 2 July 2023 by Fosse93

[The_77]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

343 is definitely viable, and would definitely explain the Coady purchase.

 

The Coady deal was in the works for over a month, well before Enzo was announced. I wonder if we had a shortlist of managers who prefer 3 at the back. 

[Lesta2014]

3 hours ago, The_77 said:

The Coady deal was in the works for over a month, well before Enzo was announced. I wonder if we had a shortlist of managers who prefer 3 at the back. 

I’d hope we’d spoke to him briefly before hand. Coady mentioned wanting to get it done all summer, we obviously made contact early on? Guessing we did similar with Maresca?

[FOXSE]

7 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Liverpool had this issue a few seasons ago and brought someone in to fix it. I believe that across football as a whole, teams are statistically only expected to retain the ball 49% of the time they take their own throw-in, which is one reason Arsene Wenger has suggested scrapping them from football. (That and it takes too much time).

 

It causes you to lose control of the game, so it wouldn't surprise me if Maresca did some work on this. Some teams actually deliberately put the ball out of play because they can reset their positioning and have a better chance to win the ball, so it's funny how a rule intended to give the attacker the advantage is now being exploited the other way!

 

 

It's 49% because leicester retain possession 5% of the time, dragging the average right down!

[Happy Fox]

2 hours ago, Lesta2014 said:

I’d hope we’d spoke to him briefly before hand. Coady mentioned wanting to get it done all summer, we obviously made contact early on? Guessing we did similar with Maresca?

We wanted Maresca for a long time , when Rodgers was sacked but couldn’t bring him in because he was tied up at Manchester City.

[Scotch]

6 hours ago, The_77 said:

The Coady deal was in the works for over a month, well before Enzo was announced. I wonder if we had a shortlist of managers who prefer 3 at the back. 

I actually mentioned this a while back. All the managers we were linked with tended to play the same sort of formation which made me wonder if we had already decided on the players and were looking for a manager that fitted them. 

 

6 hours ago, Fosse93 said:

If Enzo goes 3 at the back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Thomas playing LCB.

 

A lot of assumptions that Justin will play the wide centre back role that supports down the right flank, but I think he's far better suited as a wing back and is dangerous going forward.

 

Thomas, despite a few glimpses when initially breaking through, isn't as strong in an attacking sense which makes me think Enzo might opt for him as the LCB.

 

Would also explain why we've been linked with Giles, who is an out and out LWB.

God I hope not. His defensive positioning is really bad. How many times have we saw him lose his man at the back post. 

[Fosse93]

1 minute ago, Scotch said:

God I hope not. His defensive positioning is really bad. How many times have we saw him lose his man at the back post. 

I hear you but I'm not sure Justin's defensive positioning is the best either tbh.

 

All I'm saying is, if people are talking about Justin being one of the back three - I think Thomas will come into Enzo's thinking for the same reasons.

 

Justin is an outstanding wing back, especially in this division. With the overhaul of the squad we might have to try and maximise what we can get out of other players already here such as Thomas to keep ins / outs sensible, I don't think he's good enough as a wing back but as a wider CB who drifts out then I think it could work.