Tactics Under Maresca

[Ric Flair]

I think Harry Souttar will really prosper under Maresca if he plays the style of football I think he will. 

[justfoxes]

11 hours ago, tom27111 said:

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.

We need to start by making the KP a fortress that away teams won’t like to visit we need to dominate each and every game at home, defend as a team you lose the ball you go straight back after it again not like Tielemans who often had a silk when things weren’t going his way we had far too many that just seemed to give up when losing the ball.

Can see us be strong at the back with Coady Faes & Souttar and with others have said if we can keep them fit Ricardo & JJ and we have the defensive coach to give them the ability and skills to defend and keep other teams from scoring against us, our first clean sheet is important to bring in the confidence to defend and defend well.

[JimmyC74]

Assuming both Souttar and Coady start it will be interesting to see if we bring in another CB, but with pace, to play in a 3 or we keep Faes and play deep.

[EnderbyFox]

9 minutes ago, JimmyC74 said:

Assuming both Souttar and Coady start it will be interesting to see if we bring in another CB, but with pace, to play in a 3 or we keep Faes and play deep.

Justin maybe? He’s played as a CB in a back 3 a few times previously, that’s if he’s ever fit again 

[The_77]

3 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?

I know less about the Maresca negotiations than the Coady deal but that sounds plausible. Coady was on board to move to us well before his signing was announced. 

[JimmyC74]

43 minutes ago, EnderbyFox said:

Justin maybe? He’s played as a CB in a back 3 a few times previously, that’s if he’s ever fit again 

Not a bad shout.

[ronnup]

56 minutes ago, EnderbyFox said:

Justin maybe? He’s played as a CB in a back 3 a few times previously, that’s if he’s ever fit again 

JJ is potentially our best player when used as a full back or wing back, he needs to be there

[honeybradger]

14 minutes ago, ronnup said:

JJ is potentially our best player when used as a full back or wing back, he needs to be there

Justin played his best football for us as an overlapping right centre back in 20/21. 

Edited 2 July 2023 by honeybradger

[davieG]

2 hours ago, justfoxes said:

We need to start by making the KP a fortress that away teams won’t like to visit we need to dominate each and every game at home, defend as a team you lose the ball you go straight back after it again not like Tielemans who often had a silk when things weren’t going his way we had far too many that just seemed to give up when losing the ball.

Can see us be strong at the back with Coady Faes & Souttar and with others have said if we can keep them fit Ricardo & JJ and we have the defensive coach to give them the ability and skills to defend and keep other teams from scoring against us, our first clean sheet is important to bring in the confidence to defend and defend well.

Youri was renowned for having silky skills so not that surprising 

[StriderHiryu]

8 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. 

Coady is known to be one of the best leaders around. Southgate took him to the World Cup even though he didn’t play a single minute because he is such a positive influence. I found myself liking him with 2 minutes of his club interview!

 

- Great leader

- Experienced

- Good with his feet 

 

I think those are the main reasons we signed him. But I see your point, 3 or 4 managers dropped him because they went to a back 4 and when Barnes goes we have one winger left in Albrighton. 
 

But just to say that in a heavy possession system, cbs with different qualities excel. Dortmund fans couldn’t believe Akanji went to Man City and yet they won the treble, with him playing a key part in their winning goal. 

[Muzzy_no7]

I’m wondering if Enzo will go fully in with the latest Pep-ball and implement his newish 3-2-4-1/4-4-2 hybrid. 
 

Trafford

 

A back 3 of Coady, Souttar and Kristiansen/new left-footed CB, Greaves? 
 

Justin as a IWB/Cdm with Winks and KDH.

 

Then Kelechi off Vardy/Daka with Two skill full wingers either side. 

The signing of Coady points towards something involving a back 3 and Winks certainly has Gundogan traits. 

[Tom12345]

14 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.

Thanks for this. Well put together. It will not be easy to put this all together well in practice though as otherwise there are may Man Cities around the world. We should not over believe we will succeed with this, but I hope certainly we can play more entertaining football and not one where we struggle to get out of our own half.

 

In this game, there will certainly be no place for players like Ndidi who is a handicap in that respect.

[Lionator]

5 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

I’m wondering if Enzo will go fully in with the latest Pep-ball and implement his newish 3-2-4-1/4-4-2 hybrid. 
 

Trafford

 

A back 3 of Coady, Souttar and Kristiansen/new left-footed CB, Greaves? 
 

Justin as a IWB/Cdm with Winks and KDH.

 

Then Kelechi off Vardy/Daka with Two skill full wingers either side. 

The signing of Coady points towards something involving a back 3 and Winks certainly has Gundogan traits. 

That side would comfortably be a top 12 PL side with a competent manager, criminal that we got relegated. 

[weller54]

4 hours ago, justfoxes said:

We need to start by making the KP a fortress that away teams won’t like to visit we need to dominate each and every game at home, defend as a team you lose the ball you go straight back after it again not like Tielemans who often had a silk when things weren’t going his way we had far too many that just seemed to give up when losing the ball.

Can see us be strong at the back with Coady Faes & Souttar and with others have said if we can keep them fit Ricardo & JJ and we have the defensive coach to give them the ability and skills to defend and keep other teams from scoring against us, our first clean sheet is important to bring in the confidence to defend and defend well.

Faes worries me... He's a bombscare. 

[kingfox]

If Maresca’s comments to the media and press articles by the likes of Rob Tanner are anything to go by, we can expect a lot of similarities to Guardiola & De Zerbi.

 

With the signing of Coady, I thoroughly expect us to start with a back three. Coady in a two even in the Championship may not be ideal, as some Wolves fans have stated on here, in a two he gets more exposed when it comes to physicality & pace, the Championship is littered with physical strikers. If we do go for a back three, then of course all three players will have to be comfortable with playing out from the back, when you look at Man City, Brighton & a team like Swansea under Martin, all their centre backs are very good progressive passers. Coady ranked very highly for successful progressive passes in last season’s Premier League, another indication that he’s very comfortable with playing out from the back, likewise Souttar who ranked highly for successful progressive passes while at Stoke. The only problem I have with them as a partnership in either a 2 or 3 is their lack of pace, Championship teams will no doubt look at that as a potential weakness of ours. If we do go for three at the back, then IMO the LCB spot is very much up for debate. Personally I’d bin off Faes and get in somebody new, preferably someone left footed, who ticks the boxes when it comes to build from the back. 
 

The midfield will be the most interesting case for me. Two players that we thoroughly expect to stay in Choudhury & KDH may not be suitable for Maresca’s system. From a pressing standpoint, they are two energetic midfielders that are perfect for that side of the game. When it comes to possession based “Total Football”, I just can’t see them being suitable. If we are expected to dominate the ball, then better technical players are needed in midfield, hence the signing of Winks who is good in possession, is KDH capable of playing alongside him, I’m not so sure.

 

In attack I wouldn’t be surprised to see fluidity. If Maresca sets us up like he did at the start of his Parma stint, then we can expect two forwards with an attacking midfielder in behind. I wouldn’t be surprised if formations vary from a 3-4-1-2, 3-4-3 and 3-4-2-1. Sometimes we will see us set up with wingers, sometimes we will play with two number 10’s. Signing versatile players like Ilias Chair, who can play as a number 10 or as a left winger would make perfect sense. Joel Piroe likewise who is mainly a striker, but has played off the right a few times for Swansea. 

[South Shire Fox]

If hes a mini Guardiola then anyone not comfortable on the ball will be moved on. Your Ndidis/Choudhurys will be long gone 

[Lillehamring]

16 hours 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.

I think KDH probably suffered as much as anyone from nerves and the drop off in confidence - partly because of the nature of his game, and partly because (unlike some) he genuinely cares about the club.  Hopefully, in a confident team, the sloppiness in his game will drop off.

[Lillehamring]

9 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?

My belief is that the club had planned for BR to get through to the end of the season and then bring in Maresca - they are on record of saying they'd 'admired him for some time' - so, despite many believing that the board are incompetent, there's a lot going on now that suggests that they have had a succession plan all along.

[Lillehamring]

7 hours ago, Fosse93 said:

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.

I think JJ is one of the most overrated players in the squad - as you say his defensive positioning is questionable - i remember a phase when we were regularly conceding goals from balls that went right over his head.

As an attacking force, i feel like an energetic start to his career here and a worldy have led people to remember him as being decent going forward - but his last stint in the team (he actually seemed betted defensively), going forward, he had no idea where to go or what to do - and his end product (a goal every 2000 minutes, an assist every 3000 minutes) is almost non-existent.

 

That said, I'm not yet convinced by thomas, though, to his credit, he seems to have a natural understanding with KDH and Barnes...

[Royston.]

Will Maresca's "assumed" style of play work in the championship?

 

Need a lot of players suited to that style and you won't find many willing to play in the championship.

 

 

 

[davieG]

3 hours ago, kingfox said:

Two players that we thoroughly expect to stay in Choudhury & KDH may not be suitable for Maresca’s system. From a pressing standpoint, they are two energetic midfielders that are perfect for that side of the game.

Maybe good to bring on if/when winning to rest the technical players. We need options for rotation, it'll be a long season especially if we do ok in the cups.

[Product of 84]

I wouldn't write KDH off as just a squad player to bring on. The lad has potential and has been one of our better players. I think he will thrive this year and go on to be a great player for us. 

[JimmyC74]

If we set-up 3-5-2 with Winks as an 8 then maybe KDH / Hamza plays (maybe they play in rotation) but we definitely will need to recruit a progressive passer.

Not sure if the progressive mid would play as a 6 and link defence and the midfield or play higher up. If they sit deep we will rely on wingbacks for much of our attacks.

[justfoxes]

6 hours ago, davieG said:

Youri was renowned for having silky skills so not that surprising 

Meant to say Sulk thanks @davieG he was a mardy Sulky mare at times !

[justfoxes]

4 hours ago, weller54 said:

Faes worries me... He's a bombscare. 

He can be but I think Maresca will sort his bomb scare moments !

I hope 🙏