Tactics Under Maresca

[Hammo]

8 hours ago, Col city fan said:

I had us to go down long before we went down last season. We were useless and the team wasn’t up to the challenge. I recollect many stating we were ‘too good to go down’ and all that bollox.

This season has been amazing so far. The only reason people are worrying now is because of how easy we WERE making it look. 

Today was another example. QPR literally had two shots all game..and scored with both of them. On another day, it would have been a comfortable home win.

Why I’m not worried yet is because we aren’t playing that badly. We are still dominating games and just not taking our chances. I’d be more worried if we looked to have completely lost our way. But we don’t.

I’m genuinely used to it on here though. I believe many posters don’t know much about football or even watch the games. I’ve only posted a few posts this season and this is one of the reasons. Too full of kids these days I reckon.

The two main reasons people are worried, I would suggest, are 1) three successive defeats and 2) a lack of clear evidence that this team (including the manager) are mentally up for the fight.

Edited 3 March by Hammo

[winteriscoming]

There is absolutely no chance he’ll change the set up tactically. Unfortunately that’s the way of a modern manager. I’m really not confident looking at the next few games. 

[Bazly]

Tactics are to have 95% of possession within 30 yards of our own goal.

In the old days lofted hoof ball from Albrighton or quick forward passing from Madders and Tielemans was the answer. Today its not an options seeing Madders, Tielemans and Barnes have left and Vardy got old leaving everyone walking around and shooting like they are wearing wellies.

[Bob Weasel Fox]

I am fully behind Enzo Maresca and desperately want him to do well and get us up and keep us up with an evolving team.

 

But and it's a big but, if we fvck up promotion from here the writing has to be on the wall for him

[Simonb]

23 minutes ago, Bob Weasel Fox said:

I am fully behind Enzo Maresca and desperately want him to do well and get us up and keep us up with an evolving team.

 

But and it's a big but, if we fvck up promotion from here the writing has to be on the wall for him

If we don't get promotion from being 10 points clear the other week, with probably the best squad depth, and definitely the biggest wage and transfer budget seen in the league we have to sack him straight away... otherwise he's just going to want another war chest and another season of everyone biting their tongue and being patient for fear of losing him

 

I'm not sure how many had us down for top 2 at the start of the season, I for one thought we'd challenge top 6 but have a couple years here first.. but from where we were it's unacceptable not to go up now and if we don't he has to be the first casualty, purely because of the financial trouble we'll surely be in if not.

 

It's time to stop the arrogance, forget about looking at the players of the future and let the experience players get us over the line, even if it's their last hurrah... vardy, Albrighton and coady need utilising, from the start of games from here on in.. the current lot just don't have the fight in them

[Blanchflower78]

I don't believe in the "highly" event we don't get promotion that Ezo's job is on the line.

 

Well get there I believe.

 

However, if not I wouldn't be surprised if he walked away. Finances would be non existent. Embarrassment incredibly high. Crowd displeasure equally tentative. 

 

But... I believe well be okay just about 

[Fox92]

3 minutes ago, Blanchflower78 said:

I don't believe in the "highly" event we don't get promotion that Ezo's job is on the line.

 

Well get there I believe.

 

However, if not I wouldn't be surprised if he walked away. Finances would be non existent. Embarrassment incredibly high. Crowd displeasure equally tentative. 

 

But... I believe well be okay just about 

If we weren’t to go up, from the position we were in, then his job should be on the line. Especially when you consider our budget, facilities and squad compared to the rest of the league.

 

My heart says we will go up still but after today’s defeat my head has swung me a bit. The Middlesbrough and Leeds defeats I could just about put up with but today we were awful and lost to a side in a relegation battle (granted their form has been good recently).

[SouthStandUpperTier]

6 minutes ago, Blanchflower78 said:

However, if not I wouldn't be surprised if he walked away.

I think he'd be silly to do that. It would damage his career. It's only his 2nd gig as a manager. He's not achieved nearly enough to start walking out on clubs.

[HankMarvin]

6 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

If we weren’t to go up, from the position we were in, then his job should be on the line. Especially when you consider our budget, facilities and squad compared to the rest of the league.

 

My heart says we will go up still but after today’s defeat my head has swung me a bit. The Middlesbrough and Leeds defeats I could just about put up with but today we were awful and lost to a side in a relegation battle (granted their form has been good recently).

8 out the top 10 highest earners in the division  

 

[kingfox]

This mini league slump has been a mixture of tactical stubbornness and players underperforming.

 

Maresca’s tactics are very one dimensional, as others have said, we have no Plan B when Plan A fails. 
 

It’s exactly why a section of the fanbase struggle to warm to this style of football, I said on here in January that I feel a section of the fanbase is just burnt out when it comes to possession style football.

 

We saw it many times under Puel & Rodgers, when teams sat back against us and we struggled to break them down, the style of football became incredibly tedious. We are seeing the same thing every now and then under Maresca, today’s performance against QPR being our worst so far. 
 

It doesn’t help matters when certain players underperform. When KDH and our wingers(Mavididi & Fatawu) are not on their game, we look a completely different outfit. A team that lacks ideas and creativity when going forward. 
 

You also take Vestergaard & Ricardo out of the equation who have been pivotal to the way we play...

 

Then performances like today are actually not that surprising.

[Fox92]

2 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

8 out the top 10 highest earners in the division  

 

Good grief. 
 

Iheanacho and Daka on 70k plus  

 

Edited 3 March by Fox92

[moore_94]

11 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

8 out the top 10 highest earners in the division  

 

I expect they will still be top anyway but the majority of ours will be wrong on that list

[Dan LCFC]

Concerned at the ease in which a pretty limited, but organised side has shut us out of the game. Concerned that we look almost overly coached.

 

I'm a fan of his and I'm not near to wanting him out, but if he does oversee a collapse and a failure to go up then I think he's got to go.

[filbertway]

Tell you what, considering were playing the best football and tactics that the game has ever seen. Its odd we've lost 3 on the trot.

 

I guess... football matches can be won in different ways?

 

Its almost like you need to find a way to beat the opposition rather than playing one way all the time.

 

I dno, im no budding coach. Just a regular dude. Rock flag and Eagle right Charlie?

[Dan LCFC]

Don't agree with 3-5-2 being the answer. Back three is the start of the slippery slope to being habitually negative and I don't even see how we have the personnel either.

 

Inverting wing backs on both sides against sides who'll park the bus against us is ridiculous.

 

My worry on Maresca is seems to have just tried to exactly replicate Man City's system of last season with our squad and stuck to it at all costs.

[ozleicester]

11 hours ago, shen said:

You just cannot please all fans. If one half wants entertaining football, the other wants results. If one wants a dogmatic manager giving a clear identity, the other wants a pragmatic one that adapts style according to opposition/personnel. If one player is poor, the manager is blamed for not playing the alternative (as if he should have a magic 8 ball and know the future). I could go on.

 

The call for Albrighton was entirely silent for the first six months. McAteer was our top scorer and then no one doubts Maresca. We've literally had shouts for all four strikers to be starting during the first 30 games too.

 

The fickleness and lack of tactical understanding of fans is quite frustrating. 

 

No-one should be exempt from criticism and Enzo will get it wrong a few times, like today, but when people start comparing him with Rodgers (I imagine due to recency bias) I just shake my head.

 

Rodgers was a clueless chump for the best part of 2 years and Maresca has done a very admirable job over the course of the season to turn the tide 180 degrees. 

 

But with Maresca it feels he gets plenty of criticism when winning as well as losing. Almost as if his work so far has been taken for granted...

Currently he is giving neither.. no results and no entertainment.

My greatest frustration is the happy clappers that just say we are top we'll be fine, weve fluked numerous games and been as boring as batchit for almost all.

He has the best club in the league, best training faculities, best owners, up there with the best squad... and we are playing shite...and now losing as well.

Hes not the messiah, hes a very average coach

[Larry_LCFC]

The issue is, Plan A is incredibly one dimensional. We play out from the back, we pass it sideways to keep possession and then we eventually create a chance after alot of huffing and puffing. Problem is, when the opposition is happy to let us do that and they don't get drawn in, we struggle to score. That and the fact we can't seem to hit a barn door.

Its worked up to now to an extent because we are playing with the best squad in the league ever and we hadn't been worked out.

 

Would it stand up in the Prem? Not a chance.

[LCFCJohn]

2 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

Concerned at the ease in which a pretty limited, but organised side has shut us out of the game. Concerned that we look almost overly coached.

 

I'm a fan of his and I'm not near to wanting him out, but if he does oversee a collapse and a failure to go up then I think he's got to go.

I agree with this. If we fail to go up from where we were and from here, it will go to show that for all the technical ability you can have, to get promoted out this league requires more than that. It requires a lot of mental traits that we are just not showing. 
 

It’s tough as Pearson oversaw a huge collapse (a couple of wins in 15 I think) in 2012/13 before we stormed the league the season after. I just feel though that Enzo would want more of the same in the transfer window to double down on his vision and not actually correct the issues we are having whereas Pearson did with the likes of Kev Phillips, Big Was and even bigger GTF. 
 

I just have the feeling that when it comes to recovering from a collapse (if it does indeed happen), Enzo would be more like Rodgers than Pearson and coming back stronger next season would be unlikely. We would need to identify where it went wrong, what is needed and recruit accordingly.

[Dahnsouff]

29 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

Currently he is giving neither.. no results and no entertainment.

My greatest frustration is the happy clappers that just say we are top we'll be fine, weve fluked numerous games and been as boring as batchit for almost all.

He has the best club in the league, best training faculities, best owners, up there with the best squad... and we are playing shite...and now losing as well.

Hes not the messiah, hes a very average coach

This is just lashing out reactive rhetoric, but to respond

• From a point of extreme negativity after relegation, the mood has changed hugely
• We clearly have results as after 36 games we are still top, but recent form is poor
• No, this does not make me a happy clapper, as we are in a tough spot now and Enzo needs to adapt or inspire and quickly to recent results
• We may have fluked some games, but we have also been unlucky in others
• All this best talk is totally subjective, I am sure Leeds say the same, maybe Saints, maybe others too
• Who is saying we will be fine? Maybe some,  but few are under any illusions that recently we have looked sub standard
• This divisive happy clapper vs negative realists bullshit is part of the problem, just support and stop expecting

He is a good coach, still starting out so hardly likely to be the real deal, but more importantly than all that, he is our coach so get behind as we would the players.

[smudger63]

If we don't go up this season, regardless of who the manager will be, there is going to be a massive overhaul, and probable drop in quality, because most of the players are either out of contract, or just not going to want to play another season in the championship.

Coupled with what seemingly is going to be a bit of a financial catastrophe if we don't go up.

We could easily find ourselves going the way of Stoke, and many more ex prem clubs, who languish in this league and lower for years.

That's why going up this season, is/ was imperative.

With key injuries to Ndidi and now Ricardo, a lack of creative spark from whats left, and wingers who are now blowing cold rather than hot, and the insistence on playing a Striker who can't kick straight, and has very little technical ability, in what is a system, and way of playing that requires those abilities, then things are looking decidedly dicey.

Having a manager that is so welded to his way, and his system,  that he refuses to see any other way, is also proving problematic.

Can we turn things around, now that momentum seemingly has started to swing against us, I have grave doubts.

I hope so, but yesterday we looked like a team that had ran out of ideas, spark and belief.

 

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

He's an excellent coach. He can set up a team well and change things at half time.

 

But I'm yet to see a good manager - his in game changes don't work and he refuses to change style.

 

Added to that, not picking senior players is just naive.

 

Long way to go for him but he's going to need to adapt fast.

[ozvaldo]

When you’re losing at home to ****ing QPR, and you have an incredible opportunity to pull away from 3rd, and you’ve got Hamza getting in the way of quick balls, you’ve got two wingers that are off it, and you’ve decided to push Winks further up the pitch out of his best & preferred position, you need to drop the stubbornness and change it for the last 30mins. 
 

For me, he should have taken off Hamza, Mavididi and Abdul for Doyle, Albrighton and Cannon and gone to a 352:

 

Vardy, Cannon. 

JJ, KDH, Winks, Yunus, Albrighton

Doyle, Wout, Nelson

 

He’ll never change though. 
We had players completely out of form and combinations that lack experience and cohesion. He was too stubborn to change it, and then had the gaul to storm off at full time? 
 

Starting to question whether he has what it takes to drag us over the line now. 
 

Tuesday is simply a must win. 

[K789]

On the bright side international break up coming and wilf and Ricky available after

[Happy Fox]

Just now, K789 said:

On the bright side international break up coming and wilf and Ricky available after

If we are still top come the international break it will be a miracle, I don’t think we get more than a point from these next two away games, but ideally we need at least 6 points.

[LCFCJohn]

1 minute ago, Happy Fox said:

If we are still top come the international break it will be a miracle, I don’t think we get more than a point from these next two away games, but ideally we need at least 6 points.

‘At least’ 6 points from 2 games 🤨