Tactics Under Maresca

[sacreblueits442]

5 minutes ago, An Sionnach said:

When you are starting in management you discount the risk. I am sure he is well aware of the task.

...yeah, but how was he dealt a poor hand!!!

[An Sionnach]

2 minutes ago, Bilo said:

Sorry, but this is just a daft argument.

 

Pep gets jobs with the biggest and best clubs in the world for the same reason that players like Ronaldo and Messi have played for Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG instead of Wigan, Scunthorpe and Benidorm.

He inherited a Barcelona team with a number of genius level players in their prime. He cemented his reputation on motivating them and that has never left him. He is good allright , he is a clever man but he has always had the best players. Fergie was better , in fact he may be the best all round manager ever , he never had the genius of Iniesta and Messi.

[An Sionnach]

6 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...yeah, but how was he dealt a poor hand!!!

Our baffling and often clueless transfer dealings. Good luck Enzo , you will need it.

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

I agree, I think the first 10 games could be pretty rough. Not only has the jolly to Thailand been less than ideal preparation, I don't think we've got the attacking players we need in fast enough. I'm very surprised at least one attacking player was not prioritised given how many players left over the summer.

 

I think we will have a good squad once deadline day is over, but expect us to have dropped points before then and might drop some more after as it takes time for the squad to gel.

Just because we haven't signed one, doesn't mean it hasn't been seen as a priority.  Getting the right players at the right price is crucial - especially given our run of form acquiring attacking wide men.  it looks like Mavididi is in and Marcal is apparently getting better each outing, throw in albrighton on the right, castagne if he hasn't left by the start of the season - ok, it's not ideal, but at this level it's not exactly embarrassing - and the end of september still gives us time to bolster those positions.

 

[Lillehamring]

6 minutes ago, An Sionnach said:

Our baffling and often clueless transfer dealings. Good luck Enzo , you will need it.

To be fair the players we've brought in seemed to be widely accepted to be maresca-type players, especially winks and the keeper, with masses of experience.  We're not finished yet, but this seasons dealings, so far, look like we've gone back to our highly successful recruitment pattern of our pre-europe days - sell high, buy low, sell complaisant, buy hungry.

[Bilo]

14 minutes ago, An Sionnach said:

He inherited a Barcelona team with a number of genius level players in their prime. He cemented his reputation on motivating them and that has never left him. He is good allright , he is a clever man but he has always had the best players. Fergie was better , in fact he may be the best all round manager ever , he never had the genius of Iniesta and Messi.

Why do you think the Barcelona board gave him the job when they could at the time have appointed literally any coach on the planet? 

 

It's a bit like saying Messi and Ronaldo have only been successful because they gave Iniesta and Ramos as teammates instead of Ryan McGivern and Josh Low. 

 

Top clubs want the top coaches and the top players. The three don't come together by blind luck.

[Bluearmyfox28]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

I agree, I think the first 10 games could be pretty rough. Not only has the jolly to Thailand been less than ideal preparation, I don't think we've got the attacking players we need in fast enough. I'm very surprised at least one attacking player was not prioritised given how many players left over the summer.

 

I think we will have a good squad once deadline day is over, but expect us to have dropped points before then and might drop some more after as it takes time for the squad to gel.

I think part of the problem is the quality of player he wants in attacking areas are all being closely looked at by their respective clubs. Diallo, Palmer, Rak-Sakyi etc.

 

I think we missed out on Mebude, even if we planned to use him as a rotational piece on the right he would have massively improved depth and at least gave us an option early doors with Mavididi. 

[sacreblueits442]

41 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

Just because we haven't signed one, doesn't mean it hasn't been seen as a priority.  Getting the right players at the right price is crucial - especially given our run of form acquiring attacking wide men.  it looks like Mavididi is in and Marcal is apparently getting better each outing, throw in albrighton on the right, castagne if he hasn't left by the start of the season - ok, it's not ideal, but at this level it's not exactly embarrassing - and the end of september still gives us time to bolster those positions.

 

...the window closes 01.09.2023!!!

[leicesterlad1989]

22 minutes ago, An Sionnach said:

He inherited a Barcelona team with a number of genius level players in their prime. He cemented his reputation on motivating them and that has never left him. He is good allright , he is a clever man but he has always had the best players. Fergie was better , in fact he may be the best all round manager ever , he never had the genius of Iniesta and Messi.

He actually inherited a Barcelona team that was in transition. A team that finished 3rd the season before and won no trophies. He then went on to win the treble in his first season in charge, a feat not previously done before in Spain. Messi had only just broken through before Pep took charge, so wasn't the player we all know him as. Iniesta also was yet to have a consistent starting position in the team, despite his qualities. Pep deserves a lot of credit for the players they became.

 

Lets not forget that Fergie, for the most part, had the best players at his disposal. Whilst dominating in English football, struggled in Europe in comparison.

 

I would argue that Pep has influenced football and English football, significantly more than Fergie did. People try to mimic the way that Pep plays. Did anyone try to copy Fergie?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[An Sionnach]

Pep consistently failed to win the CL with his earlier methods even if the high skill level of his players was too much for most teams in the PL. He has won it at last by putting far more muscle in his team. Haaland , Grealish in attack and Stones and Rodri into midfield . Actually only Silva is lightweight nowadays. A lesson for us I think , no more lightweight players unless they are outstanding footballers.  Lightweight is not all about size though , attitude is equally important. A reincarnated Bremner would be perfect for us.

[Bilo]

42 minutes ago, leicesterlad1989 said:

He actually inherited a Barcelona team that was in transition. A team that finished 3rd the season before and won no trophies. He then went on to win the treble in his first season in charge, a feat not previously done before in Spain. Messi had only just broken through before Pep took charge, so wasn't the player we all know him as. Iniesta also was yet to have a consistent starting position in the team, despite his qualities. Pep deserves a lot of credit for the players they became.

 

Lets not forget that Fergie, for the most part, had the best players at his disposal. Whilst dominating in English football, struggled in Europe in comparison.

 

I would argue that Pep has influenced football and English football, significantly more than Fergie did. People try to mimic the way that Pep plays. Did anyone try to copy Fergie?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were huge underachievers under Rijkaard with basically the same squad.

 

The old argument that Ian Holloway or Alan Pardew would have matched what Pep did if they had the same players doesn't bear even light scrutiny.

[Noahfence]

Wish we’d been able to actually watch these pre season games 

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Bluearmyfox28 said:

I think part of the problem is the quality of player he wants in attacking areas are all being closely looked at by their respective clubs. Diallo, Palmer, Rak-Sakyi etc.

 

I think we missed out on Mebude, even if we planned to use him as a rotational piece on the right he would have massively improved depth and at least gave us an option early doors with Mavididi. 

He's being signed for £1.65m, so I can only assume we don't think he's good enough, because that is cheap even by Championship standards. Maybe at his new club he will play every week versus being rotation here, but frankly at that price it's hard to see us not signing him if we wanted him.

 

To be fair there haven't been too many wingers that have been signed where I've thought that we got beat to the punch. In the Championship the one I thought we might go for is Morgan Rodgers who went to Boro, who's also a Man City U21 player. Anyone else people can think of? Borges looks like going to the Premier League, Cole Palmer not gone anywhere yet.

The best signing IMO in the Championship so far is between Winks and Shea Charles. At least of the ones I know.

[Wymsey]

He's going to smash the league, isn't he..

[Lillehamring]

9 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...the window closes 01.09.2023!!!

Still a long way off.  I'm sure you know as well as i that transfer windows start slow and then get crazy.

[Claudio Fannieri]

Maresca seems a very intelligent man, he will be well aware it isn’t going to be quite as easy to bring in players here as it was at Man City, where they could pretty much meet whatever the asking price and personal terms that were required to land their key targets. 
 

I have no doubt, like most of us including the club’s hierarchy, he would have liked our rebuild to have progressed a little quicker and had more players in, but we have moved on our 2 big saleable assets and with Mavididi we will have signed 5 new players and I am pretty certain this next week or 2 will see significant movement both in and out of the club, whilst we may not have our desired team ready for the 1st game I am sure Enzo and the club recognise this is a marathon not a sprint. 

[Spudulike]

What's Enzo doing coaching goalies? (think that's him?). Isn't that a job for Willy? 

 

 

[Lillehamring]

2 hours ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

Maresca seems a very intelligent man, he will be well aware it isn’t going to be quite as easy to bring in players here as it was at Man City, where they could pretty much meet whatever the asking price and personal terms that were required to land their key targets. 
 

I have no doubt, like most of us including the club’s hierarchy, he would have liked our rebuild to have progressed a little quicker and had more players in, but we have moved on our 2 big saleable assets and with Mavididi we will have signed 5 new players and I am pretty certain this next week or 2 will see significant movement both in and out of the club, whilst we may not have our desired team ready for the 1st game I am sure Enzo and the club recognise this is a marathon not a sprint. 

I think the club are more realistic about time scales than most fans seem to be - even the most prepared, organised teams, probably even man city, know that time scales are mostly out of their own hands - it's an absolute minefield of high demand and unwanted trash, with numerous clubs circling certain players and no one prepared to touch others - the market dictates the pace and the club know this, they've done this before, they'll have a plan and they'll be doing all they can to get the plan to come through.

[CosbehFox]

44 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

What's Enzo doing coaching goalies? (think that's him?). Isn't that a job for Willy? 

 

 

The GK coach is also bald, so it’s probably him 

Edited 29 July 2023 by CosbehFox

[BKLFox]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

What's Enzo doing coaching goalies? (think that's him?). Isn't that a job for Willy? 

 

 

Michele De Bernardin

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, Spudulike said:

What's Enzo doing coaching goalies? (think that's him?). Isn't that a job for Willy? 

 

 

...the weird thing is Caballero is the mirror reflection of Maresca!!!

[Lambert09]

Surely there has to be a point where things haven’t moved the way we expected in the market so enzo needs to consider a different system.

 

He might well want to play 1 striker but it’s hard to look at the strength of players and not realise that we would be better off with 2 strikers. daka, vardy and kel at this level is very strong and to only play 1 at a time or someone out of position seems illogical to me. 

 

it’s nice to think someone like wanya should get a shot, but if he ends up starting with kel on the bench ….. that’s just mind blowing.

 

Im really hoping Maresca is willing to adapt based on what’s available  because i’m currently terrified we start with someone like ndidi in a more advanced role just because that’s all that’s available. 

 

                     hermansen

            faes.    souttar.   doyle 

ricardo.                                        jj/ castagne

                        winks.   

          praet.                        kdh

                    Nacho    Vardy

   

That to me, is just a more realistic set up to what we have available. Or you could put winks and kdh together with praet in more of a 10. 

          

[StriderHiryu]

The match against Liverpool has just started, and I will do a bigger write-up tonight, but you know what, even if we get battered, I've seen enough in this first 10 minutes to make me very, VERY excited.

 

Get Enzo his attacking players FFS. This guy will turn us into a brilliant team.

 

For me this is a breath of fresh air. I am reminded of Brighton TBH, a mid-table team that dares to play an attacking and entertaining style.

[foxfanazer]

Don't wanna get ahead of ourselves but with the brief time he's had with the players you can already see the progress and a direction 

[StriderHiryu]

Against Liverpool, we kept the 433/3412 but moved Ricardo to left-back and Castagne to right back. This was done to deal with their dangerous wide-men such as Salah (who Ricardo was assigned to mark when off the ball).

 

This meant that Ricardo inverted from LB instead of RB, and Castagne dropped into become the RCB. In this game, McAteer played as LW instead of as a number 8 against Northampton.

 

I believe Daka was selected as Liverpool play a high line, giving us a fast outlet on the fast turnover.