It is the start of a new era for Leicester City, under the exciting leadership of Enzo Maresca. The 43-year-old has an impressive pedigree, having recently worked under Pep Guardiola. Undoubtedly, therefore, his philosophy bears key hallmarks of the Spaniard’s tactics. Yet, it would be crass to brand Maresca simply a ‘Pep clone’ as the Italian will undoubtedly bring his own tactical nuances, which will become apparent as a larger sample of football becomes available during the upcoming season.
Juego de Posicion
A key tenet of ‘Maresca-ball’ is the philosophy of Juego de Posicion or Positional Play, popularised by Pep Guardiola. The aim of this philosophy is to find the ‘free man’ by creating overloads within a specific zone of the pitch. Achieving this allows teams to keep possession and move up the pitch, and when done successfully ensures the creation of numerical overloads as well as overloads in quality.
Considering Leicester City are likely to dominate possession in the Championship, adopting this approach provides the best chance for the Foxes to control and win matches by pinning back the opposition and breaking them down with wave after wave of attacks.
In possession
Enzo Maresca usually sets up in a 4-3-3 formation, with a singular holding. Nevertheless, within a game, the setup is entirely different. In possession LCFC set up in a 3-2-5/3-2-4-1 formation, very akin to the way Manchester City set up. In this system, the central centre-back (LCB in a 4-3-3) becomes a ball-playing sweeper whilst the ‘left-back’ inverts into a third centre-back, effectively forming a back three in possession. Usually, this has been Callum Doyle who has the athleticism to defend out wide despite some technical limitations.
On the right, Ricardo is the perfect player to invert into a double-pivot along with Winks. Despite the physical limitations of both players, they are both extremely technical and as evidenced in pre-season, work well together to retain possession and move the ball through the lines through the creation of overloads.
A key component of the midfield is the staggered structure, which resembles the way that Roberto De Zerbi likes to build up. Interestingly, Maresca is also a good friend with his fellow countryman which can only be a good thing. This staggered structure in the midfield allows for the creation of an ‘in-to-out structure’, passing into the midfield before passing backwards out wide.
Effectively, this encourages the opposition to press by dangling the bait of an advantageous transition. Nevertheless, when executed right, this build-up allows the advanced midfielders to exploit space in-behind the opposition press. Thus, the attacking side ends up in a ‘transition’ despite maintaining possession the whole time. Key to this is ensuring that the players receive the ball at the right angles, to ensure optimum reception and options for offloading. This would go a long way to making Leicester City a lot less predictable and easy to defend against.
Out wide, the wingers hold width and are instructed to isolate their opposition full-back. This has not been as visible in pre-season due to the lack of winger profiles at the club. Hopefully, Stephy Mavididi and a new right-winger will showcase how Maresca desires to isolate the wingers against a weaker full-back.
Out of possession
Like Brendan Rodgers, Maresca utilises a 4-4-2 structure out of possession, although he used a 4-5-1 low-block against an elite side in Liverpool. In the Championship, Enzo will likely use the 4-4-2 due to the assumed qualitative superiority the Foxes possess.
This involves a high-pressing system, something LCFC failed to successfully implement in the latter half of Rodgers’ tenure. Often Leicester City would be bypassed due to a flawed pressing structure and/or individual physical limitations. Therefore, whilst a well-coached counter-press is vital to pin opponents back, having a physically capable squad is equally critical.
It is difficult to assess Leicester’s press due to playing against either significantly inferior/superior opposition. Nevertheless, the game against Northampton highlighted the positional principles. Winks and Ricardo’s positions were key in either picking up second balls or covering potential transitions.
Leicester City will likely face mainly transitional threats in the upcoming season, so there is nothing better than stopping these transitions at source, especially without a physically dominant figure in defensive midfield. If this fails, hopefully, Maresca has also taught his players the art of tactical fouls which, whilst aggravating, are a necessary part of the game.
Limitations for Maresca’s Leicester City
Whilst Maresca’s tactics have an extremely high ceiling when performed right the system can backfire if there are not the right personnel. For instance, inverting both full-backs creates gaps that can be exploited in transition by opponents. This can be exacerbated if the RCB does not have the mobility to cover out wide. Therefore, on paper current CBs do not seem to meet these criteria. After all, such a setup is extremely high-risk, albeit with a high-reward.
Furthermore, it can be questioned whether some members of the LCFC squad have the ability to play in a Maresca system, especially those lacking in technical security. Players such as Patson Daka, seem unsuited to playing the role of a technical striker who helps the side retain possession. Similarly, the futures of Wilfried Ndidi and Hamza Choudhury seem unclear given that they fit neither the profile for the ‘6’ or the ‘8’, due to their nature as ‘destroyers’.
Clearly, the project that Maresca has laid out for Leicester City fans remains extremely exciting despite much of the hype coming from the King Power side’s potential rather than tangible results as of yet. Nevertheless, there remains much work to be done, both on and off the pitch if the Foxes are to start the season strongly and make a quick return to the Premier League.