Can This Tactic Win Chelsea The Title?

Right, so we have to talk about Enzo Maresca’s tactic…used at Chelsea.

But before we do, I have something to confess…I tested this tactic only once with Chelsea, through a simulated season.

But the results were on par I would say.

So, Enzo Maresca. Former Pep Guardiola staff member and Leicester City manager. What have you got in store for us?

Enzo Maresca got promoted with Leicester last season, together with his fellow Premier League colleague Kieran McKenna. Both their promotion tactics are up on the channel.

After starting out at West Bromwich Albion in 1998, he went on to play for several clubs in his country, including Juventus, with whom he won the league title in 2002.

After being released in 2004, he went to play one season with Fiorentina. He then resumed his career in La Liga with Sevilla (where he remained for four years) and Málaga, appearing in 134 games and scoring 17 goals in the competition after winning five major titles with Sevilla.

In between his two spells in Spain, he also spent one year in Greece with Olympiacos.

And in 2012, he returned to Italy, where he played until his retirement in 2017, totaling 140 appearances and 17 goals in Serie A.

In June 2017, Maresca was unveiled as part of the non-playing staff of Serie B club Ascoli for the upcoming season. As he did not have the required coaching badges by the time of the hiring, he was officially appointed as assistant to new head coach Fulvio Fiorin, formerly a youth manager and scout for AC Milan.

In August 2020, he was hired by Manchester City as manager of their Elite Development Squad.

After winning the Premier League title with Manchester City, in May 2021 he was hired as the new head coach of Parma, who played in Serie B in the 2021–22 season. Enzo Maresca failed to lead Parma to the promotion spots, being dismissed in November 2021.

In June 2022, he returned to Manchester City as one of Pep Guardiola's assistant managers, replacing Juanma Lillo, who became manager of Al-Sadd.

But, in June 2023 came his first big job as a football manager. Leicester City were on the lookout for a new head coach and Enzo Maresca picked their interest.

His first game in charge was an M69 derby on 6 August 2023 against Coventry City, ending with a 2–1 victory for Leicester. After starting the season with a 100% record in their first four matches in the Championship, Maresca was named the EFL Championship Manager of the Month in August.

In October, he won the award for a second time, after leading Leicester to another perfect record, getting six wins and 15 goals from six matches.

In December, he won the award for the third time, after leading Leicester to end the calendar year at the top of the league, getting six wins and 18 goals from seven matches.

His Leicester side secured promotion back to the Premier League on 26 April 2024, becoming Championship champions on 29 April following a 3–0 away victory over Preston North End.

 He was awarded another EFL Manager of the Month in April, his fourth in the season, for collecting 15 points in seven games.

And if the Leicester job was big at the time of his appointment, what followed was incredible, but deserved, in my opinion.

After failed attempts to get back on track, Chelsea came knocking and in July 2023 it was announced that Enzo Maresca took over the London-based club.

On 18 August 2024, his first game in charge ended in a 2–0 home defeat to the champions Manchester City. The master was still better than the apprentice.

A week later, he achieved his first win as Chelsea manager in the Premier League by thrashing Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–6, including a hat-trick from Noni Madueke and other goals scored by Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and João Félix.

Better results came in the following matches, with three consecutive wins over Bournemouth, West Ham and Brighton, which led the club to the best start in a Premier League season since 2021 and Enzo Maresca was named Premier League Manager of the Month for September 2024 as a result.

At the time of recording this video, Chelsea limped against Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace but are still pushing for a top 4 finish in the Premier League.

Irrespective of the team managed, Enzo Maresca stayed true to his tactical principles. Which resembles Pep Guardiola’s style, however, his system seems to be more fluid than Pep’s.

His playing style is based on keeping possession of the ball and trying to find an opening that would lead to a goal being scored.

Looking at both Leicester and Chelsea, Enzo Maresca seemed to have used a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3 system. Recently, he seemed to prefer a 4-2-3-1 formation at Chelsea.

The speed of play is high, and players are required to move around the pitch, especially in the final third, before moving into channel to attack the opposition’s goal.

Cole Palmer and Joao Felix seem to interpret this movement very well, disrupting the opposition’s defensive shape at times.

As the wingers are required to cut inside at times, the wing backs are required to go up the pitch and overlap when the play allows them to.

Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo seem to be the engines of the tactic for different reasons. Moises Caicedo seems to be playing in front of the defence, screening the play and stopping counterattacks.

While Enzo Fernandez seems to be passing hub of the team. His link-up play with Cole Palmer and/or one of the wingers creates a fluid movement in the team’s attacking midfield area, which often disrupts the opposition’s defensive shape.

Of course, there are times when what was described so far doesn’t happen.

In game, I went with a 4-2-3-1 line up, a bit asymmetric.

The goalkeeper is a sweeper keeper on support duty. Neither Robert Sanchez nor Filip Jorgensen are required to go out of their way to sweep up the loose balls. But they are expected to offer a passing option should their teammates need one.

The back four is made of two ball playing defenders on defend duty and two wing backs, one on support and one on attack.

On the right side, the wing back seems to be going up the pitch in the rhythm of play, so the support duty was preferred.

On the left side, Marc Cucurella seems to be venturing forward more often than not, sometimes even cutting inside, depending on the midfielders’ movement off the ball.

For this reason, the attack duty was preferred. I did not go full on complete wing back, as he returns in his position as soon as the ball was lost, to cover his flank defensively.

I did not go with cut inside with ball player instruction, but you can develop a player trait that would help the player in this position to cut inside if needed.

A defensive midfielder on support duty in front of the defence. The support duty was preferred as Moises Caicedo goes up the pitch whenever the play allows him to. The defend duty requires the player to hold to his position.

Take more risks as player instruction, to ask the player to look for a risky pass that would unbalance the opposition’s setup.

Central midfielder on support for Enzo Fernandez. Roaming playmaker and mezzala are options to be used here. However, from experience, the roaming playmaker role in this game’s edition is kind of all over the place and nowhere to be found when you need him and the mezzala tens to stick to the wide areas often.

So, to try to emulate the Argentinian’s playing style, I ask this player to roam from position. Take more risks was chosen for the same reason of unbalancing the opposition’s setup.

The wingers are an inside winger on support duty and a trequartista. The inverted winger, when Noni Madueke plays, is a fitting role. But if Pedro Neto plays on the right side, I would go with a trequartista here and the inverted winger on the other flank.

Pedro Neto and Joao Felix seem to have a fluid playing style and freedom to pick up the best positions to be in when the team is attacking.

Joao Felix, especially, cuts inside often and plays in the half spaces, sometimes even as an attacking midfielder. Thus, a trequartista. At least this is the role I think gets close to how the Portuguese plays.

Roam from position and sit narrower for the inverted winger and cut inside with ball for the trequartista.

And an advanced playmaker and an advanced forward were used for the remaining two positions.

Cole Palmer at least on paper seems to be an attacking playmaker. However, he often goes wide on the winger’s position or moves into channels in behind the striker.

There are arguments for a trequartista role for him as well, but I don’t like using similar roles so close to each other, as in the match engine, it could unbalance the team completely.

Instead, I asked the player to roam from position, hoping for the math engine to let the player move around depending on the game moment.

The striker is asked to mark tighter, in an effort to disrupt the opposition’s build-up play.

As mentality I chose positive.

In possession, fairly wide attacking width and play out of defence. Shorter passing directness and a slightly higher tempo. The tempo could also be standard, but I noticed that in the game, the slightly higher one is the most balanced one.

And run at defence, to add urgency to the players’ and the ball’s movement.

In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence, through short kicks.

And out of possession, a high press and a standard defensive line. Although, I would change this to a higher defensive line. It depends on the opposition and your squad, though.

Just be mindful of this space here, as the higher defensive line gets these players closer to each other, favouring a better passing game and a more compact shape when defending. But, leaving you with this space to be covered in your final third.

Trigger press more often and prevent the goalkeeper distribution were chosen as well.

Using this tactic, Chelsea finished third in the Premier League in the simulated season and ended up being runners-up in both the Carabao and the FA Cup. Funny enough, to the same team – Manchester United.

Enzo Maresca is on the path to the best result in his career, so far. His tactical principles may have failed him at Parma, but brough him very good results at Leicester and Chelsea.

He seems to be a very good manager and I am curious to see how Chelsea end this season with him at the helm.