Tactics Under Maresca

[ithuriel]

Considering how fast he turned us around, I think he is pretty damn good, real test will come next season, if he is still here though.

[Chelmofox]

21 minutes ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

Strikes me he's an excellent coach and he's able to set the team up really well and often adjust things at half time.

 

In game though that's several times where opposition subs have changed the game. Have our subs changed the game this season?

 

He's a young manager, I'm sure he'll get better but that's Farke and Mckenna who've outdone him twice now.

He is an excellent coach that has done good things with tools at his disposal.  But do you really think he has the players he needs to kick on? People complaining about subs, but once you see players like Ndidi and Vardy injured, I think our depth is actually overhyped. At the moment I see Enzo in pragmatist mode, pushing a plan that he knows he needs better players to get right. It's a plan worth sticking to if you can continue to improve players and you can bring the right players in. But at some point he is going to need to show his darker side. 

 

Mckenna hasn't outdone him, but Carrick has.  

[Supergray22]

I thought the way he set up last night was excellent. Targeted their weak positions and hamza played the Ricardo role very well allowing Ricardo a free role to dominate midfield and set up the offence. We pressed and defended very well too with great discipline and togetherness. Once again I wasn’t convinced with the timing and nature in substitutions but to be fair we didn’t have a lot of choice and fresh legs were required. 

[Matt]

44 minutes ago, Corky said:

At least we can say that results are all that matters. It was one of our best performances but a bad result. 

 

All this stuff about entertainment and all that- we nick a 1-0 with one shot and this place is bouncing.

In essence yes, it’s that elusive balance inbetween.

[trooky]

9 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

I do think it’s a bit over the top to assail the tactics when we were the better side for 75 minutes.  But I do continually have issues with Enzo’s subs - they made things worse tonight for sure.  And it’s worth noting that when Leeds got their second, they kept pressing forward for the insurance goal they eventually got - whereas our tendency has been to get very defensive with a one goal lead.

Who does Enzo have on the bench at the same level as the starters to bring on and keep the momentum?

 

Albrighton, Kasey, Praet, Yunus aren't good enough.

 

We have a FA cup game on Tuesday were we need to rest KDH, Winks, Ricky, JJ, Faes, Fatawu, Mavididi so in my opinion his options are quite limited.

 

The squad isn't balanced and has to many CBs or central strikers.

[Claridge]

7 minutes ago, trooky said:

Who does Enzo have on the bench at the same level as the starters to bring on and keep the momentum?

 

Albrighton, Kasey, Praet, Yunus aren't good enough.

 

We have a FA cup game on Tuesday were we need to rest KDH, Winks, Ricky, JJ, Faes, Fatawu, Mavididi so in my opinion his options are quite limited.

 

The squad isn't balanced and has to many CBs or central strikers.

Its a terrible squad to take into the prem, that's for sure. Winks, Ricardo, KDH, Hams are all lower to middle prem players, JJ Faes ,Fatawu, Madavidid, maybe some hope the rest are no where near good enough

[Lad1966]

12 minutes ago, Claridge said:

Its a terrible squad to take into the prem, that's for sure. Winks, Ricardo, KDH, Hams are all lower to middle prem players, JJ Faes ,Fatawu, Madavidid, maybe some hope the rest are no where near good enough

Let’s not worry about the prem. Let’s get there 1st and if we do, let’s enjoy that moment. Enzo knows what will be required and where weak. We just to regroup and finish the job off.

COYB

[foxile5]

The fans have become just as dogmatic as under Brendan. No criticism allowed.

 

I've recently been told on here that the 3-1 loss away was 'pretty much the perfect away performance' in response to criticism yet also read that 'it's a results business' in response to someone being bored by possession football.

 

Which is it? Why is every criticism unacceptable?

[kenny]

1 hour ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

Strikes me he's an excellent coach and he's able to set the team up really well and often adjust things at half time.

 

In game though that's several times where opposition subs have changed the game. Have our subs changed the game this season?

 

He's a young manager, I'm sure he'll get better but that's Farke and Mckenna who've outdone him twice now.

We looked shattered by the 70th minute, particularly fatawu and mavididi. I think he needs more options in these areas to stop the late goals. At the start of the season it looked like we were collecting wingers and 8s, it now looks like we don't have enough.

[foxile5]

19 minutes ago, kenny said:

We looked shattered by the 70th minute, particularly fatawu and mavididi. I think he needs more options in these areas to stop the late goals. At the start of the season it looked like we were collecting wingers and 8s, it now looks like we don't have enough.

Not signing Sensei is looking a very poor move.

[Matt]

1 hour ago, trooky said:

Who does Enzo have on the bench at the same level as the starters to bring on and keep the momentum?

 

Albrighton, Kasey, Praet, Yunus aren't good enough.

 

We have a FA cup game on Tuesday were we need to rest KDH, Winks, Ricky, JJ, Faes, Fatawu, Mavididi so in my opinion his options are quite limited.

 

The squad isn't balanced and has to many CBs or central strikers.

 

People who keep saying our bench isn't good enough, you have a point they're 'not better than our starting 11' granted but our bench is still strong, amongst some of the better players in the league and those players would walk into most other teams starting 11.

 

Whilst I agree they're not better than the starting 11 when individuals in the starting 11 are tiring or 'not at it' there should be no excuses for not using the squad.

 

If (I'll say If, just for devils advocate) we get promoted then yes, the bench (And lets be brutally honest, the starting 11) will not be good enough, but in the here and now, it's more than adequate, an embarrassment of riches.

[shen]

2 hours ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

Strikes me he's an excellent coach and he's able to set the team up really well and often adjust things at half time.

 

In game though that's several times where opposition subs have changed the game. Have our subs changed the game this season?

 

He's a young manager, I'm sure he'll get better but that's Farke and Mckenna who've outdone him twice now.

You must mean Carrick and not McKenna..?

[Claridge]

1 hour ago, kenny said:

We looked shattered by the 70th minute, particularly fatawu and mavididi. I think he needs more options in these areas to stop the late goals. At the start of the season it looked like we were collecting wingers and 8s, it now looks like we don't have enough.

Some would say this system means midfielders and wingers are absolutely ran into the ground as the defence has an easy ride pissing about with it at time back. Then a half decent team over runs over you in the last 15 mins. Going to be absolute murder in the prem with this system. We are top in spite of it, rather than because of it.

I wouldn't say because its not allowed to think Enzo is not the king

 

[KFS]

I think the guy is right up there with our transformative managers, but I do wonder what his mate Guilleme would have to say about them subs yesterday. 

[Lillehamring]

16 hours ago, Pliskin said:

I don’t want to jump all over Enzo, and I know people will say the league position (albeit now under serious threat), negates any negativity, but…… his style of play against better opponents seems to expose our weaknesses somewhat. 
 

As a few have said, apply a bit of meaningful pressure and we fall apart. 

We've dropped points from a winning position with 15 minutes to go on 6 occasions - at least two of those were to deflected goals, one to a worldie free kick and one was after playing half a game with 10 men.  

 

You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

9 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

He is an excellent coach that has done good things with tools at his disposal.  But do you really think he has the players he needs to kick on? People complaining about subs, but once you see players like Ndidi and Vardy injured, I think our depth is actually overhyped. At the moment I see Enzo in pragmatist mode, pushing a plan that he knows he needs better players to get right. It's a plan worth sticking to if you can continue to improve players and you can bring the right players in. But at some point he is going to need to show his darker side. 

 

Mckenna hasn't outdone him, but Carrick has.  

Mckenna is getting more out of inferior players. He's got a league one squad largely.

 

And yeah we need investment but we've lads on the bench earn three times what the lads at Ipswich do.

 

In both games against Ipswich, the subs changed the course of the game.

Edited 24 February by Chocolate Teapot

[Lillehamring]

10 hours ago, Corky said:

At least we can say that results are all that matters. It was one of our best performances but a bad result. 

 

All this stuff about entertainment and all that- we nick a 1-0 with one shot and this place is bouncing.

But people don't seem to be able to factor this in - it was a bad result sure, but not through playing poorly, and we didn't play poorly against boro, we created 24 shots, and the 5 games before that we won by an aggregate of 15-2.

 

The talk is as though we are a shit team playing shit.

 

But i think the confidence is still there, the tactics are still spot on and the performances are of a high standard - Sometimes you just don't get the results. 

[Paninistickers]

8 hours ago, foxile5 said:

Not signing Sensei is looking a very poor move.

We didn't have a choice. The maths didn't work

[Lillehamring]

10 hours ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

If defending a one goal lead going into the last 10 minutes, I would rather see us launching the ball into row z than trying to pass our way out of defence or trying to be clever with back heels and so on.

The trouble with that logic is that when we were 1-0 up we were playing superb, we didn't need to launch the ball into row Z because we were consistently playing through Leeds as though they weren't there.

And the moment they equalised, we had to keep playing for a winner, so we had to try to continue to play to our strengths - which is passing our way out of defence.

[Dan LCFC]

15 hours ago, foxile5 said:

The fans have become just as dogmatic as under Brendan. No criticism allowed.

 

I've recently been told on here that the 3-1 loss away was 'pretty much the perfect away performance' in response to criticism yet also read that 'it's a results business' in response to someone being bored by possession football.

 

Which is it? Why is every criticism unacceptable?

This place has gotten particularly ridiculous in the last few years in this regard.

[Gamble92]

Id go as far as to second half up until 80 minutes were the best 25 minutes all season. Turnover after turnover and Leeds looked clueless. If we score any of our chances we easily win and everyone would be calling it the best performance of the season.

 

I don't see any parallels between this game and Boro apart from being unlucky. I also don't see any to the Coventry game (where I think he did actually get it wrong by thinking we could just defend for 45 minutes). 

 

I think it's actually a lazy assessment to just say any of the games we have lost are down to mentality or tactics. Each have been for different reasons and I think the real example of our mentality has been how we have always bounced back, and I back us to do so now.

 

[winteriscoming]

His subs are always imo reactive to what the opposition have done rather than being proactive. 

[foxile5]

3 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

This place has gotten particularly ridiculous in the last few years in this regard.

I think he's a fine manager and we're lucky to have him.

 

I also think that losing 1-3 away and not seeing out the second half was a crap performance.

 

I can hold both of those opinions with relative ease and it shouldn't be that hard to do.

[JimJams]

19 hours ago, Claridge said:

Its a terrible squad to take into the prem, that's for sure.

And yet could be the best squad to ever be promoted from the championship.

[deep blue]

20 hours ago, trooky said:

Who does Enzo have on the bench at the same level as the starters to bring on and keep the momentum?

 

Albrighton, Kasey, Praet, Yunus aren't good enough.

 

We have a FA cup game on Tuesday were we need to rest KDH, Winks, Ricky, JJ, Faes, Fatawu, Mavididi so in my opinion his options are quite limited.

 

The squad isn't balanced and has to many CBs or central strikers.

You're right that our squad is unbalanced, but at this level our subs are of adequate ability.  On Friday night Albrighton would have been perfect for the moment because of his tenacity, crossing ability (to help keep us looking forward), and, particularly important in the situation, his experience.  Cannon was also a good choice.  Then there's Praet, who you may not regard but is plenty good enough at this level.

 

One of the worst aspects of his subbing, as several on here have pointed out, is his timing and his strategy in using them.  They should be proactive, so that he is setting the agenda, rather than reacting to the opposition, so that he is posing them problems rather than the other way round.  And they should be made much sooner, generally between 60 & 70 mins, to give them the time to take effect.