Former West Brom and Juventus player Enzo Maresca has worked under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and now he has become the new manager of Chelsea.
Maresca under the limelight
World football has seen the meteoric rise of Enzo Maresca. He was a well-known figure at Juventus. Enzo Maresca began his footballing career with teams like Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Napoli, Juventus, and also played in West Bromwich Albion.
Later he worked with various managers such as Pep Guardiola, Rafael Benitez, Lippi, Manuel Pelegrini, and many more. All of them has influenced his thinking about the game.
People have started to think that Enzo Maresca is the Pep Guardiola of this generation. He often resembles with the former Blaugrana tactician because both of them have bald head and beard. On top of that, their matchday attire is almost same.
Since Enzo Maresca has worked under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, so the people think that he must have inherited Pep’s strategies and gameplans. But the reality is different than what we think.
The Italian manager has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be next Pep Guardiola. He wants to create his own identity as a manager. Maresca shared his past experiences and told that when he joined Leicester City, the owner wanted him to build a team that can play like Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Same thing repeated with Enzo Maresca when he joined Chelsea as their new head coach. According to The Standard , Chelsea hierarchy held a meeting with the Italian manager and told him to emulate the Man City style of playing at Chelsea.
Enzo Maresca will carve his own path
Last season, Chelsea finished 6th in English Premier league. Mauricio Pochettino found a standard team out of the scrap.
At the ending of 2023-2024 season, the Blues were performing better than their previous games. They should maintain this performance in order to achieve more success in the upcoming season.
The fans are excited to see Enzo’s Chelsea team because he is the one who brings on something out of the box. He has worked under some legendary managers such as Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, and many more.
He takes idea from different managers and combine them all together. On top of that, he mixes some of his own ideas. These things make Enzo Maresca a great coach.
But it is certain that his system needs a goalkeeper who has a sound ball distribution ability. According to the multiple reports, Enzo Maresca has chosen Robert Sanchez.
Recent Chelsea performance under Enzo Maresca
Till now Chelsea have played four preseason games and they have bagged one win, two defeats, and one draw. Chelsea won against Club America and loose against teams like Manchester City and Celtic FC. From these matches we can see that Enzo Maresca’s team lack understanding among their players.
They are trying to play from the back, and it is the most difficult thing to do if your players are not in the correct position. Opponents like Manchester City won’t give a pinch of space to play small passes. Same thing happened with Chelsea in the preseason game against City.
Before the game against Chelsea, City lost all the preseason games. Although we know that City is a world class team, but there should have been a minimum competition from Chelsea. From the starting, the game was one-sided.
Manchester City were pressing, and Chelsea midfielders were releasing the ball. Erling Haland scored two goals in this way. At this moment, Enzo Maresca must figure out whether this strategy works for Chelsea or not. Sometimes managers should build a strategy on the capabilities of their players.
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