Performing the moves was a cornerstone of Enzo Maresca’s football coaching career. While studying at the legendary Italian training center Coverciano, his thesis was titled Football and Chess. “There are a lot of similarities,” Maresca said when comparing the two games. “The most important thing is the gameplay and the strategy. For a coach, it is important to have the mentality of a chess player:
Make plans, study the backlash, choose the layout of the rooms.
His favorite tactical moves on the pitch are certainly shaped by the moves he makes from club to club and from country to country. The Italian started his career playing in the AC Milan youth team, coming in at number six and number eight. There he befriended the team’s number 10, Roberto De Zerbi.
Maresca made the bold move to West Bromwich Albion at the age of 18, playing for the first time in England’s second division. He joined Juventus – where he played for Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi – and Sevilla won a Serie A title, two UEFA Cups and a Copa del Rey. A season with Olympiacos has added to his experience of different football cultures. This was followed by an 18-month period under Manuel Pellegrini in Malaga, during which the Chilean coach told Maresca he had the potential to be a good coach. After first coaching in Serie B with Ascoli and then in Seville, he joined Pellegrini’s coaching staff at West Ham in the summer of 2018.
By this point, Maresca had earned a reputation as a progressive coach with great attention to positional play. It is perhaps no surprise that in 2020, Pep Guardiola has signed him to take charge of Manchester City’s Elite Development Team (EDS). Maresca helped Man City win their first Premier League 2 title with a squad that included Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer and Tommy Doyle. The first head coach role followed in 2021, at Serie B Parma, but ended after just 14 matches. Guardiola did not hesitate to bring Maresca back as first-team assistant for the treble campaign, before Leicester offered him as head coach.
Below, our UEFA accredited coaches analyze Enzo Maresca’s tactics and coaching principles, with and without the ball.
Maresca appreciates deep play, with short passes from the backline to beat high pressure. Goalkeepers play an important role in this tactic, frequently participating in the backline (below). This helps create overload when needed, usually if the opponent applies a face-to-face press against the player.
Maresca usually chooses a 4-player system according to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 scheme. The goalkeeper’s arrival allowed the Italian to push one of his players inside and keep four in defence. In his 4-3-3 formation at Leicester, an inverted full-back helps form a double shaft (above), in position to take in defenders. The involvement of the goalkeeper and reverse full-back are familiar schemes from his Manchester City EDS team. Leicester have a free agent in their deeper formation should the opposition put pressure on the goalkeeper – unless one of the opponent’s backlines moves very high, in which case the three Leicester strikers when That would be player to player. With first-time passes and clever assists from the dual axis, Leicester were able to find a player free to turn unhindered and down the pitch.
Maresca’s Parma side also tried to build from the back, although they averaged less possession than Leicester in their first stint at King Power Stadium. The Serie B team has a move to the side within the distance of the ball, after rounding up the opponent’s pressure. The remaining full-back will simultaneously move forward to join the attack, or support the number 8 and the winger. At Leicester, on the other hand, the full-back managed to turn the tide.
