Tactics Under Maresca

[kyleolly]

9 minutes ago, Beachyboy said:

If we have a lack of attacking options and the opposition defend well, I won't be suprised to see more similarities to Rogers era. What's markedly different is the weak mentality. I believed we'd nick a winner from somewhere today. The last 12 months I always felt we were going to throw away a lead, an on about 15 occasions we did.

The only saving grace is that the strikers we’ve been playing against have been nowhere near premier league standards so we have not thrown away a lead 

[FoxTimmy2]

22 minutes ago, ARM1968 said:

Bit early to be getting annoyed I’d say. He must have known the position. It’s not easy shipping out crap for good money. 

Very harsh that if you were referring to Iversen.

[AjcW]

28 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

But when the opponents are in the ascendency or, more simply, attacking us, Ricardo, by the very nature of the system, reverts back to RB - I don't think it was anything special, that's just the way it works....

Sorry what I meant was he was it looked like he was told to stay there whether we were going forwards or attacking. 

[Ric Flair]

19 minutes ago, Stevosevic said:

But you’ve still got 7 players to play with for those other positions and you still can’t use them all. 
 

A GK is limited to being a GK but you’re pretty screwed if you have to end up putting an outfield player in goal. Yes it’s rare, but it does happen. 
 

9 subs basically means this never has to be a possibility and you’ve still got more options than you need for outfield. 
 

7 subs to cover 10 positions, of which many players can play more than 1, is plenty. 

It's about the different options the different players give you that are required in game to try and effect a result.

 

You're far more likely to have a potential solution off the bench from an additional outfield player than the rare event you need to have made 2 subs for keepers. 

[Beachyboy]

1 minute ago, kyleolly said:

The only saving grace is that the strikers we’ve been playing against have been nowhere near premier league standards so we have not thrown away a lead 

Yes there is that but there were many times where it felt inevitable the opposition were going to score and Rogers didn't make any changes to change the tide of the game, games just drifted. I think all 3 games so far have been with us behind or level going into the final quarter of the game. If we find ourselves with a lead, an need to make some more defensive changes, I don't think Enzo will just do nothing he will be a bit more proactive.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

The game plan is very clear under Enzo.  He has us playing some incredibly good football at points and the slow possession usually leads into it.  The only issue at the moment is, when we lose the ball, we look vulnerable. 

[StriderHiryu]

Leicester City (2) vs Cardiff City (1) Notes

 

• Cardiff played 4231, dropping to 541 when out of possession.
• Ramsay played as the 10 for them. This had pros and cons, it made it easier for us to dominate the game and pass the ball, but his quality still shone through. Goal was unstoppable, but he did more than that, he put in a really nice cross and some good passes. Worked Hermansen for a possible second. Technically, it was clear on the pitch who the guy that scored winners in 2 FA Cup finals and won a Scudetto with Juventus was.
• We had out highest pass completion rate of the season, 90% completion (!) with 65% possession. This told the story of the game, tons of possession, but not easy to make chances. I would say this statistic shows that maybe we aren't daring enough and play the safe pass too often.
• Our high press worked really well in the first half, Ndidi the best at it. We had a 75% tackle success rate during the game, quite impressive.
• First half was impressive, Iheanacho could have scored a couple, after Marcal's goal we had chances to wrap up the game. At this point, I thought we would see us dish out the first battering of the season.
• Goal it's hard to blame anyone for the strike, but the passage of play before the goal was the crime... just keep hold of the ball till the whistle blows! Not the first time something like this has happened. Game management after we went 2-1 up was much, much better.
• Second half was a mess and we lost composure after conceding at half-time. We lacked fluency to penetrate. Marcal kept turning back instead of running at his man, Mavididi wasn't as effective.
• Cardiff were very effective in the second half with simple balls through the middle after dispossessing us in midfield. The lack of pace at the back reared it's head multiple times and this will cost us goals this season.
• We stuck to the same system the whole game with like for like substitutions. However, when Albrighton and Vardy are on the pitch we naturally tend to play a bit more direct, and ultimately that worked for us.
• Maresca has been saying the midfielders need to arrive in the box, and big Italian youngster was in the right place at the right time!

 

Maresca-Ball in Action GIFs

 

 

^ A brilliant move, would love to have seen Doyle score this one. Showcase of playing out from the back to generate numerical superiorities further up the pitch by taking players out of the game. Doyle is a CB / LB hybrid and just 19, but look at his quality, and how far up the pitch he went to support the attack!

 

 

^ Our wingers are told to hug the touchline so that big diagonal switches are always on. The extra man in midfield makes play really compact through the middle, meaning that at worst a good ball to a winger is a 1 v 1 situation. In this example, Wanya Marcal has time to collect the ball and drive forwards such was the space he was afforded. Ndidi and Iheanacho do well to support the play and drop deep, Kelechi with a fabulous effort.

 

 

^The Casadei goal. What I want to draw your attention to is that Maresca is stubborn. No last ditch ball into the box, we stick to our principles. We play the ball short and drag a few players out of position as we trigger their press. This leaves some men short which benefits us with the scramble. I am clutching at straws a bit to call this Maresca-ball, but it is in keeping with his overall phillosophy.

 

 

Tactical Issues / Things to Fix

 

 

^ Romeo plays through the high press and is able to make a killer progressive pass right through the middle of the team. Vestergaard must be more alert here, caught on the wrong side and his lack of pace means he can't recover. If I was an opposition manager, I would 100% be targetting this as a way to beat Leicester.

 

 

^ Aaron Ramsey's AMAZING goal. You can't criticise Ndidi here, he does go to close down the ball, but look at how far our Ramsey is when he hits it. Even for him that is a 1 in a 100 strike. Brilliant goal mind! The mistake was to let Cardiff have the ball for the final minute when we should have seen the half out.

 

Overall Thoughts

 

This game and performance... get used to it. This was the textbook game for my prediction for the season, with teams playing a deep block and looking to hit us on the break. Surprisingly, the other teams so far didn't do this, with them all at times trying to match us at times, including even Burton. In games like this if we get the first goal it usually seals the game, especially if that goal is scored early, say if Kelechi scored in the first 10 minutes. After we scored, it looked like we were going to rout them, but mentally showed our weaknesses from last season after conceding with heads dropping.

 

This really was a game of two halves. First half we were very good barring the wonder goal, second we were lucky to get a point, let alone all 3. It's not like we were making chance after chance and banging on the door, we hardly made anything, but direct play and high quality saw us through again. I think the longer injury time periods plus fear factor really work in our favour in this division.

 

This game we struggled to break down a deep block. We always knew that was going to be the central problem for any manager coming in this season. It is way, way too early to make any snap judgements and frankly I have always said the manager will need 6 months to really get this team playing properly in the way he wants. However, today's lack of chance creation was a warning sign. The manager needs to be backed and we need another winger ASAP. The manager wanted an attacking midfielder with a proven record of goal scoring... and was rewarded game 1 by the player signed to do that. In fact all of his signings so far have impressed. Maybe we should let him get a few more in eh?

 

The lack of a plan B would be fair criticism, but Maresca won't entertain the idea of even trying it for now, and I think that is the right call. We have to perfect and get this idea working correctly first. I think he will change it up later in the season, but for now he still needs to win over players and fans.

 

 

 

 

Edited 20 August 2023 by StriderHiryu

[ronnup]

I like it. Its working

 

[LinekersLugs]

3 hours ago, Aleksz said:

I feel like your posts take on a very similar tone to the one you were calling Tom Collomese (Daily Mail) out for the other week 

Interesting 

[Dames]

53 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Off the top of my head.

 

Carlo Ancelotti has done, one of the most successful manager in the game.

 

So has Unai Emery another who I'd class as a top manager 

Are these in league games or European games where you have to have 2 on the bench?

[Kierzz]

On 12/08/2023 at 15:54, st albans fox said:

Can we get this done and dusted please 

 

40 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

Well the debate originally started because of the suggestion that Maresca was lining up with two keepers purely as part of a battle he's having with the board, some kind of elaborate stunt to show how frustrated he is with the clubs lack of transfer activity and so on.  

Probably more of a sign to tell players not selected in the squad that they are nowhere near his planned match day squad as he will bring an additional goalie over bringing them.

[Dames]

1 hour ago, Lillehamring said:

But he can only bring on so many attacking players and if you look closely, he's very particular about the type of subs he does use  - trying to keep the conversation away from conspiracy theories and focussed on tactics - so far maresca's use of substitutes has been masterful:

 

v Coventry - 1-0 down, brings on vardy on 75, KDH scores 2 minutes later, we go on to win the game also partly because he swaps mcateer for hamza to help survive 9 minutes of added time.

v Huddersfield - 0-0 after 55 minutes, swaps marcal and nacho for vardy and ndidi, 5 minutes after vardy comes on we score.

v Cardiff - vardy and casadei come on and get the assist and the winning goal.

 

None of these games were adversely effected by a lack of options off the bench.  Maresca has a clear plan 'A' each game, and can see what needs to be done to change games if it isn't working or if he sees a weakness in the oppositions game; and if you look at the subs he's used ( vardy x 2, hamza x 2, albrighton x 2, Nacho, Praet & casadei) apart from casadei he's only using the most experienced players he has, so there's no issue, he doesn't need to have 8 outfield players available.

If its a conspiracy theory then why did he refuse to answer the question about it at the post match presser? 

[StriderHiryu]

Will add to my previous post, but time for some sexy Maresca-ball clips:

 

 

Brilliant move, would love to have seen Doyle score this one. Showcase of playing out from the back to generate numerical superiorities further up the pitch. Doyle is a CB / LB hybrid and just 19, but look at his quality!

 

 

 

Edited 19 August 2023 by StriderHiryu

[StriderHiryu]

 

^ Our wingers are told to hug the touchline so that big diagonal switches are always on. The extra man in midfield makes play really compact through the middle, meaning that at worst a good ball to a winger is a 1 v 1 situation. In this example, Wanya Marcal has time to collect the ball and drive forwards such was the space he was afforded. Ndidi and Iheanacho do well to support the play and drop deep, Kelechi with a fabulous effort.

[StriderHiryu]

 

^ Romeo plays through the high press and is able to make a killer progressive pass right through the middle of the team. Vestergaard must be more alert here, caught on the wrong side and his lack of pace means he can't recover. If I was an opposition manager, I would 100% be targetting this as a way to beat Leicester.

 

[FrankieADZ]

1 minute ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

^ Romeo plays through the high press and is able to make a killer progressive pass right through the middle of the team. Vestergaard must be more alert here, caught on the wrong side and his lack of pace means he can't recover. If I was an opposition manager, I would 100% be targetting this as a way to beat Leicester.

 

do feel at times Vestergaard mind goes off during a game, as you said his lack of pace and positioning is a bit iffy; 

like his game awareness can be amazing one second then hes off like a lamp post; while he hasnt done bad for us this season, personally feel we do need another CB

[coolhandfox]

38 minutes ago, Dames said:

Are these in league games or European games where you have to have 2 on the bench?

Emery did it in four PL games last season, Ancelotti did it in at least a couple of PL games whilst at Everton.

 

Edited 19 August 2023 by coolhandfox

[StriderHiryu]

 

 

Ha interesting, he says what I pretty much thought he would! Great first half, second half we thought too much about their goal and lost the plot!

 

 

[trabuch]

2 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

 

Ha interesting, he says what I pretty much thought he would! Great first half, second half we thought too much about their goal and lost the plot!

 

 

I said in the post match thread how refreshing it is to have a manager who seems to be watching the same match as us, rather than bullshitting his own spin. (I'll let it go eventually)

[StriderHiryu]

2 minutes ago, trabuch said:

I said in the post match thread how refreshing it is to have a manager who seems to be watching the same match as us, rather than bullshitting his own spin. (I'll let it go eventually)

Totally agree, same in the press conferences. It will be interesting to see if this is the case after we lose some games, and / or he starts feeling some pressure. But I find it massively refreshing. I don't have expectations of us winning every single game we play, and find it way more human when a full explanation is given. At the same time, being a manager is pretty damn stressful. I run my own company and boy... sometimes you really do feel it!

 

 

[TheFiveTime]

While Wanya did ok today and did manage to get a goal, mcateer is injured (and also ok but not outstanding) and no new winger imminent, am I missing why Maswanhise hasnt got anywhere near the bench yet? He seems to be our most promising attacking player in terms of output for the youth acadamy last year. Am I missing a bit of info or is this a tactical choice?

[trabuch]

Just now, StriderHiryu said:

Totally agree, same in the press conferences. It will be interesting to see if this is the case after we lose some games, and / or he starts feeling some pressure. But I find it massively refreshing. I don't have expectations of us winning every single game we play, and find it way more human when a full explanation is given. At the same time, being a manager is pretty damn stressful. I run my own company and boy... sometimes you really do feel it!

 

 

Was just about to say. The test will come when (if ) we lose. I like him though - and I like what he is trying to do. (Even when we won the FA Cup I couldn't honestly say that about the last one). 

[StriderHiryu]

The Casadei goal. What I want to draw your attention to is that Maresca is stubborn. No last ditch ball into the box, we stick to our principles. We play the ball short and drag a few players out of position as we trigger their press. This leaves some men short which benefits us with the scramble. I am clutching at straws a bit to call this Maresca-ball, but it is in keeping with his overall phillosophy.

[STUHILL]

2 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Look how many players in the box! 

[StriderHiryu]

 

Aaron Ramsey's AMAZING goal. You can't criticise Ndidi here, he does go to close down the ball, but look at how far our Ramsey is when he hits it. Even for him that is a 1 in a 100 strike. Brilliant goal mind!