UNDERSTANDING TACTICS: CHELSEA UNDER ENZO MARESCA

Enzo Maresca has so far taken charge of 2 Premier League games as Chelsea’s boss, after his opening weekend loss at home to Manchester City. Chelsea thumped Wolves 6-2 away at the Molinuex in what looked like an outing, showing that Enzo Maresca’s playstle is starting to click despite various teething problems during pre-season. In this episode of Understanding Tactics, I will look at the play style that Maresca wants his Chelsea side to be identified with.

MARESCA BACKGROUND

Enzo Maresca has an enviable past when it comes to the managers he has played for and worked under. From playing for the likes of Ancelotti, Zico and Pellegrini, to playing in England with West Brom as well as Greece for Olympiacos, which helped broaden his ideology about football. He also worked under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City during their treble winning campaign before he went to Leicester where he won the Championship and gained promotion back to the Premier League before joining Chelsea. Maresca has since then been described as a manager that is obsessed with positional play, often likening football to the game of chess, where he strives to get his players in positions that allow his team to have the upper hand in every situation.

At Leicester, Maresca employed a 433 shape which became a 3223 or 3241 when in possession; a set up used famously by various managers such as Arteta and Pep Guardiola, however Maresca has a different way of implementing this shape/system.

DEEP BUILD-UP

When building up or playing out from the back, Maresca often employs a 4223, with the goalkeeper joining the structure to give them an extra man in order to nullify the opposition’s man-for-man press, something Pep Guardiola often does. However, Maresca looks to progress the ball through the wider areas, using various combination plays, like bounce passes, to draw the opponent in and then play a line breaking pass. In his system, the advanced number 8’s stay wide and look to create overloads in the wide areas by doubling up on the opposition full-back, in a case where a midfielder from the opposition follows the advanced 8 wide, it allows Chelsea to play through the middle with ease and with the striker acting as a facilitator, provides an extra body in midfield which means Chelsea will always have the upper hand with superior numbers. Maresca favours a slow, patient build-up which allows his players to rotate and constantly look to take advantage of the opposition.

Opposition midfielder doesn't follow Chelsea's advanced 8 wide, and Chelsea progress the ball and create an overload on the left side

Opposition midfielder is drawn out by Chelsea's advanced 8, which leaves space for Chelsea to progress through the middle

POSITIONAL PRINCIPLES

Maresca plays with a rest of defense of 3-2 in which he employs a very proactive counter-pressing ideology while maintaining the 3223 formation. While in this shape, Maresca likes his wide center backs to be adept to defending the wide channels. Against Wolves, he played Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana as wide center backs, both are adept at defending channels due to their pace and physicality. Maresca also likes to invert one full-back into midfield in order to create his box midfield of 4, and against Wolves, it was Malo Gusto that assumed that role, he inverted and was paired with Moises Caicedo in the deeper role in midfield. Maresca’s system requires the 2 advanced 8’s to be dynamic and adaptable to be able to receive the ball deeper, higher and in wide areas, they also have to be effective playing in-between the lines and attacking the half spaces; this is a role that Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall (now at Chelsea) excelled at while playing for Maresca in Leicester City. In the Wolves match, he played Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer as the double 8’s with the latter setting up all 3 of Madueke’s goals and scoring one himself. Maresca’s system also creates 1v1 situations out wide by overloading the central areas which allows the wingers who are always hugging the touchline to engage the opposition full-back in a 1v1 situation. He has previously stated that he likes his wide forwards to be electric and good in 1v1 situations, and at Chelsea, he has a number of wingers of that mold in Mudrk, Madueke and Neto. Finally Maresca’s set up requires a very versatile forward, one who can act as a facilitator by dropping deep to help build-up and linking play and also has the ability to threaten the opposition back line by making dangerous runs in behind, and this is a role that suits players like Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku who are at the club.

LIMITATIONS OF THE SYSTEM

Despite Maresca’s success employing this system and Chelsea’s 6-2 win over the weekend, the system still has some teething problems, an example being the first goal that Chelsea conceded against Wolves where nobody picked up Cunha at the back post before his tap in, an area of the pitch that should have been covered by Fofana or Gusto. Similar errors were made throughout the match but Chelsea fans will hope that these mistakes are a case of adjusting to the new system and not from lack of compatibility between player profile and system.

From a tactical standpoint, Chelsea’s build-up can be nullified if the opposition can find a way to stop the ball from going wide while simultaneously protecting the middle of the pitch, an example of this was when Chelsea faced Manchester City and they swarmed Chelsea deep double pivot in order to prevent their bounce passes from going through.

Man City players pressing the deepest Chelsea player receiving the ball in order to prevent the bounce pass to the wide center back (number 3)

Despite all of that, I believe Chelsea fans have every right to be excited for the upcoming season and I believe that if the system clicks and they avoid injuries, a top 5 finish is very possible.