Tactics Under Maresca

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/squandered-leicester-city-lifeline-leads-9217095

 

Squandered Leicester City lifeline leads to mentality doubts amid Enzo Maresca's rare Hail Mary
Talking points from Leicester City's 1-0 loss to Millwall, looking at the impact of jeopardy, whether the gameplan has been found out, Maresca's tweaks and their success, and more

 

ByJordan Blackwell
15:03, 10 APR 2024

Leicester City didn’t need to beat Millwall to keep their destiny in their hands. Naturally, questions will now be asked if that was part of the problem.

Enzo Maresca made an astute point after the win over Birmingham. He felt, in reflecting on City’s relegation from the Premier League, that the players did not do enough to win late-season matches because they had the safety net of another fixture the following weekend.

To try to short-circuit his players’ brains not to think that way, he has been approaching each match as if it’s the last in the season. It seemed to make a difference on Saturday as City piled men forward at the death and grabbed a late winner. But watching the display at Millwall, it could not be said that City played with the kind of thrust and urgency of a team that believed they absolutely had to win to get promoted.

 

 

 

In the first half, they lacked creativity, but also that sheer force of will. They had just three shots. It was only when they went behind and were staring at a defeat did they play like it was a must-win.

So while Saturday’s game seemed like evidence of Maresca’s psychological ploy working, there are now doubts over that. Maybe that victory was just the jeopardy of losing control of the promotion race.

After the loss at Bristol City, Leicester had to beat Norwich if they wanted to remain in charge of their fate. The same was true before the clash with Birmingham. Because Ipswich and Leeds both lost at the weekend, City had room to play with. They could afford to lose a match and still be in control, owing to their game in hand. They used up their lifeline immediately.

It’s not certain this is the issue. Maresca denied that the loss to Millwall was in any way due to that lack of jeopardy, or even the pressure of being the team at the top of the table.

And fortunately for them, Leeds’ failure to beat Sunderland means City can lose to the Pilgrims too and still have automatic promotion in their control. That means the game at Home Park gives City the opportunity to show that a lack of jeopardy is not a barrier to them winning matches.

City can’t use up their lifelines so readily. Because it only takes one refereeing decision or one mistake in an actual must-win match to be the difference between promotion and play-offs. They mustn’t reach that point.

 

 

Another 1-0 loss leads to accusations of City being 'found out'
Another question that will be asked is: have City been found out? In the first half of the season, they lost just three times. In the second half of the season, they’ve lost on six occasions, and with five matches still to play.

The opposition are not silly. They will watch City endlessly and put together a solution to stopping them, which becomes easier the more evidence there is. Plus, the players already have the experience of having faced City once before.

That’s not supposed to be a problem for City. The gameplan is supposed to be foolproof, so that even teams that know how to stop them are not able to. Plus, the idea is that City improve the longer they work with Maresca so as to become better at carrying out the plan and more difficult to stop.

The number of defeats they’ve suffered when conceding first adds support to the idea they have been caught onto. While they’ve only conceded first in 12 matches – the second-fewest tally in the division after Southampton – they’ve lost seven of those. Ipswich have conceded first 17 times and lost just four of those.

The Tractor Boys are one of six teams, along with Leeds, Norwich, Coventry, Preston, and West Brom, who have a lower percentage of losses when conceding first than City do. The defeat to Millwall was the fifth time Maresca’s side have gone down 1-0 this term.

But equally, City do have the most points in the league and they do have the most wins. So it would be unfair to definitively say that the opposition have got their number. But it is true that their improvement rate needs to be greater than the rate at which teams suss them out. It’s not certain that’s the case at the moment.

 

 

Maresca opts for rare Hail Mary as tweaks offer important element of surprise
There is a workaround for Maresca and that is the element of surprise. He is not going to abandon his style in search of a solution, but there are tweaks he can make to the set-up to catch the opposition off guard.

In fairness, he did that against Millwall. Usually, Ricardo Pereira is only pushed forward into a number eight role when City are playing against a defensive line of five. At the Den, Ricardo did play in a more advanced position, despite Millwall opting for a back four, meaning it was six on four at times in attack. It led to periods of nice one-touch play in the final third, and some quick pressing, but unfortunately nothing more than that.

Playing that way meant Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Wilfred Ndidi swapped over, so that when Ricardo moved forward from right-back, it was Dewsbury-Hall playing as a number 10 next to Jamie Vardy, and not Ndidi. However, that also meant that neither of the usual two attacking midfielders were as effective.

Dewsbury-Hall, as has often been the case when he’s not played on the left, was out of the game for long periods. He had 53 touches of the ball, which ranks 29th among his Championship appearances this season. That’s despite City’s 72 per cent possession coming in as their eighth highest of the campaign

It also meant Ndidi was doing his trademark underlap and clipped cross from the byline with his left foot. It took him 70 minutes to look comfortable doing it, serving up a ball for Abdul Fatawu’s diving header, with Maresca substituting the Nigerian shortly afterwards.

In one intriguing change, there was a rare Hail Mary from Maresca. With time ticking down, he brought on Patson Daka for Harry Winks and changed to 4-4-2. Whether it was the extra striker on the pitch or the altered formation disrupting Millwall’s organisation, it did lead to City’s best two chances of the game, both in injury time, with Kelechi Iheanacho’s header off the line and Daka’s skewed horribly wide. It was perhaps the closest Maresca’s ever come to a Plan B and it broadly worked.

In the first half, their best chance came when they counter-attacked from a Millwall corner, only Stephy Mavididi’s heavy touch denying them a one-on-one. This is not how Maresca wants them to play, and yet it led to a clear opening.

There is a balance to strike. Too big of a departure from what they know and what they practise and City won’t be effective. But a slight difference from the norm is perhaps all it takes to upset opposition sides who are too comfortable.

 

Tiredness excuse won't wash if team is not rotated
Maresca said ahead of Tuesday’s match that, as it was the second of three games in seven days, he would make changes. Technically, he wasn’t lying. But two changes is not the sort of rotation that he seemed to be hinting at.

It gives City two problems. Firstly, the excuse that the team were tired doesn’t wash. Every side is in the same boat and the best way to negate fatigue is to use the squad. Maresca didn’t do that.

Secondly, there will now be questions over whether all of those players can go again on Friday at Plymouth. Because of how the Birmingham and Millwall matches panned out, City did not get the opportunity to ease up and coast to the final whistle, conserving energy. They had to go flat out.

On Saturday, Maresca said City need 20 players, not just 11, to earn promotion. He needs to use them then, because if they drop points at Plymouth and again says City are tired, it won’t look good on his part.

 

 

Top-two or bust for City as toxic mood to hamper play-offs
As was the case after the Bristol City match, the mood has swung. The showing at Millwall was not as poor as that performance – at least City created chances when chasing the game this time – but the feeling among supporters is similar.

In football, any club is only ever three games from disaster. At the end of the season, when nerves are heightened, it feels like one defeat is all it takes.

Maresca, praised after City’s back-to-back wins and their performances against Norwich and Birmingham, is coming in for criticism again. But this is not unique to City. Over at Leeds, the mood is very similar. Daniel Farke is getting nearly as much stick as Maresca is. It’s what happens when the finishing line is in sight. Everything intensifies. Dropped points are deemed a catastrophe.

Having been in the top two for so long, it does feel like the atmosphere will turn totally toxic if City end up in the play-offs. They will still have a chance to get promoted from there, but with the expected mood should they finish third or fourth, it feels like they would struggle.

Whoever finishes sixth will be buoyant at having beaten off the competition to get the final spot, while Southampton and West Brom are likely to be more mentally prepared for the play-offs, having sat in fourth and fifth for so long. It’s not technically true, but it does feel like it’s top-two or bust for City.

[ARTY_FOX]

35 minutes ago, dmayne7 said:

But if we had started like this and this is where we'd ended up, he'd have been sacked. I appreciate that the context can distort things but the whole point is it was meant to get a lot better as time went out and it's been dire performance wise for a long time.

 

As for Pep, he didn't have the best group of players at first and in fact, an ageing team. They still did ok. Certainly improved as time went on.

As will we. 

[ARTY_FOX]

36 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Pep was dynamic and played multiple formations and multiple different styles. This season alone he's played 4 different formations (5 if you count the club world cup), peps wingers invert into the centre, and when that isnt working they overlap on the wing, Pep has CB's that are competent playing as a defensive midfielder. Pep changes formation and style fluidly throughout the match. 

Enzo does not to any of that. There is a monstrous difference between the two managers, I know you're not making a direct comparison between Pep and Enzo so please don't think i'm saying that, I understand that Pep took a season or so to really click. 
But pep has showed he is dynamic and pragmatic at multiple clubs in multiple countries with multiple teams.
Enzo refuses to even overlap a full back. 

At present there is no evidence it ever will click, let alone instantly.

So to disagree that his first season at man city (were people declared him a flop and man city fans wanted him sacked) you compare Enzo's first to man city's current one? 

[cityfanlee23]

36 minutes ago, ARTY_FOX said:

So to disagree that his first season at man city (were people declared him a flop and man city fans wanted him sacked) you compare Enzo's first to man city's current one? 

No, I’m comparing Peps first season. 
 

edit: Sorry I see what you meant, I mentioned Pep using 4-5 different formations as an example of Pep proving he is dynamic. But in his first season he changed multiple things about his system in his first season.

 

16/17 he used: 4141, 4231, 352, 442, 433, he has continued to use 3-4 main base formations every year. Again, we can’t even overlap wingers. 

Edited 10 April by cityfanlee23

[dmayne7]

1 hour ago, ARTY_FOX said:

As will we. 

Well we haven't? That's the point 

[ARTY_FOX]

2 minutes ago, dmayne7 said:

Well we haven't? That's the point 

It was always going to take longer than a year though. We're you expecting us to perfect it already? 

[ARTY_FOX]

1 hour ago, cityfanlee23 said:

No, I’m comparing Peps first season. 
 

edit: Sorry I see what you meant, I mentioned Pep using 4-5 different formations as an example of Pep proving he is dynamic. But in his first season he changed multiple things about his system in his first season.

 

16/17 he used: 4141, 4231, 352, 442, 433, he has continued to use 3-4 main base formations every year. Again, we can’t even overlap wingers. 

Come on mate. His first season was poor. It was really poor. He can use as many formations as he wanted to, it was all crap. 

 

It took the richest club in the world, with the supposedly best manager in the world 2 years. Why are you expecting us, a club apparently in financial poo, to do it in one. 

 

Infact Enzo's first year if anything, has been better than peps. 

[Vazman]

20 hours ago, EastAnglianFox said:

This season has been awful, barring a couple of results we have scraped the 3 points week after week despite having a the most expensively assembled squad this league had ever seen.

 

We are where we are in spite of him not because of him

To be honest we will make it hard work again Friday, and every match to the end, I have no idea, or feel relaxed about our next performance at all. 

[Dan LCFC]

On 10/04/2024 at 16:12, lcfcell said:

Not quite sure how to phrase what I mean without sounding like an old man yelling at a cloud but this clubs identity just isn’t possession football. Before anyone says no I don’t mean gerrit forward, play for corners, long throws, route 1 etc being our only hope of scoring and no I don’t expect us to sit back at home to Rotherham and play for counter attacks. 
 

Purely from a fan’s entertainment point of view since the club wanted to shift to how we play now heavily focused on keeping the ball being safe in possession we’ve been dull as **** to watch. 
 

Not entirely sure if what I mean makes any sense but hopefully you get what I’m trying to say 

 

I just miss when we had a bit of blood and thunder football to watch. Some chaos. 

I do agree with this and think most of our fans do. I don't think we as a fanbase react to slow tempo football in the stands at all.

[HarryDee8]

If he knows some of the players are knackered for the Plymouth game tonight, since well have played 3 games in a week then he needs to be bold and switch the players about

 

Hes got too much faith in some of them. 

 

 

[dmayne7]

On 10/04/2024 at 11:27, Col city fan said:

Brian Clough;

“95% of football management is the same. Any football manager can do it. It’s the extra 5% that makes the difference”.
Personally I think Enzo is probably ‘too nice’ with this squad. That’s how he comes across. That will only work for so long. What these players now need is a kick-up the arris by someone who isn’t ’too nice’.

Imo

Not sure I'd say he's too nice, just to wedded to his way of playing. But that quote is bang on

[Dr The Singh]

So we have been shot for the last 10 minutes.  Can Maresca be pep or be himself.  He is becoming a joke.

[HankMarvin]

On 10/04/2024 at 18:41, ARTY_FOX said:

Come on mate. His first season was poor. It was really poor. He can use as many formations as he wanted to, it was all crap. 

 

It took the richest club in the world, with the supposedly best manager in the world 2 years. Why are you expecting us, a club apparently in financial poo, to do it in one. 

 

Infact Enzo's first year if anything, has been better than peps. 

I mean the bloke is managing in the division below, with one of the highest value squads to ever be relegated. Don’t think finishing 1st in the championship tops a high pl finish 

[ARTY_FOX]

7 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

I mean the bloke is managing in the division below, with one of the highest value squads to ever be relegated. Don’t think finishing 1st in the championship tops a high pl finish 

Don't think I said it did 

 

Just suggested that maybe these things take time. 

[HankMarvin]

Just now, ARTY_FOX said:

Don't think I said it did 

 

Just suggested that maybe these things take time. 

 

On 10/04/2024 at 18:41, ARTY_FOX said:

Infact Enzo's first year if anything, has been better than peps. 

 

[ARTY_FOX]

17 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

 

 

I think there's a good argument for it. I mean you mention our money, but man city are the richest club on the planet. Finishing fourth for them os a failure. Just as us not going up is a failure. 

 

Do i think it's a better achievement? Possibly.  but I can see why someone would argue otherwise. Different expectations of different clubs. 

Edited 12 April by ARTY_FOX

[kingfox]

On 23/01/2024 at 11:55, kingfox said:

Thought he sounded far too comfortable in his post match interview with Sky last night, came across as borderline arrogance with a “Everything will be fine” approach, something which we saw last season with certain players, that ended up biting us on the arse.  

[JonnyBoy]

I thought Rodgers tactics/subs/persistently starting players out of form was bad. This guy is on a level. Never wanted a manager to leave my club so bad 

[HankMarvin]

This will be a thread to haunt some people at a later date, that said clearly you don’t understand football to posters when we was winning ugly 

[BigGibbo]

Maresca is Rodgers

Rogers is Maresca

 

[BigGibbo]

Maresca blew a 17 point head start.

[Matt]

I'm still waiting for answers regarding:

 

How this style is sustainable, how it preserves energy and how it breaks teams down?

 

Answers on a postcard advocates of "How the game should be played" fans.

[FrankieADZ]

he needs to adapt, far far too slow in the build up play etc

 

 

[BigGibbo]

Maresca's bedroom at his parent's house in 10 years. 

 

STRIKERS WERE OUT!

[Tuna]

1 minute ago, Matt said:

I'm still waiting for answers regarding:

 

How this style is sustainable, how it preserves energy and how it breaks teams down?

 

Answers on a postcard advocates of "How the game should be played" fans.

It's just shit football isn't it