Why Maresca? What City fans can expect from Guardiola’s successor

After three years away, Enzo Maresca has returned to Manchester City.

The Italian, who was Pep Guardiola’s assistant during City’s Treble-winning 2022-23 campaign, has succeeded the Spaniard as City’s new head coach on a three-year deal.

The former Chelsea manager’s appointment underlines the 46-year-old’s rapid rise in management, having only taken his first head coach’s role in 2021.

He now faces the unenviable task of following Guardiola – who won 20 trophies in his 10 years at City.

Maresca has called the job a “huge challenge”.

“Probably the reason why I am here is also because the idea from the club is to maintain the same style of football, the same idea,” he said.

“And we are going to try to do the most important thing in football which is try to win, to achieve important things. Then the day-by-day is also going to dictate the way I will work.”

Guardiola had previously described Maresca as “one of the best managers in the world” but what has convinced the club’s hierarchy?

Why Maresca was Man City’s chosen one

Maresca is part Italian, part Spanish in his approach to coaching and life.

His Spanish influence stems from his family, and his exposure to Guardiola’s Barcelona while he was at Sevilla and Malaga during the peak years of his playing career.

Facing a Barcelona side regarded by some as the greatest club team of all time opened Maresca’s eyes to a new way of playing, and helped spark the trend for technical, possession-based teams dominating at the highest level.

In Spain, Maresca also met his trusted assistant, Willy Caballero, and his children were born there. Spanish is now the main language spoken at home within his large family.

It was also his “football father”, former Manchester City and West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini, who identified during Maresca’s playing days that he had the qualities to become a coach.

This grounding helps explain the similarities between Maresca and Guardiola.

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has been open in his assessment of Enzo Maresca, with the Italian returning to the club following two previous stints – first with the academy and then alongside Guardiola as his assistant coach.

Khaldoon said: “He is one of Pep’s assistants at one point in his career so definitely – he will tell you – he is going to have taken a lot of inspiration in the philosophy of Pep, and you see that in his football.

“But he has also evolved his own philosophy. I think Enzo brings a lot to this club.”

The pair are known to be in regular contact and Maresca would not have been chosen without Guardiola’s knowledge, according to those close to them.

It is also understood that outgoing sporting director Txiki Begiristain recommended him as Guardiola’s heir when handing over his responsibilities to Hugo Viana upon leaving the club last summer.

Khaldoon added. “I think the fans will appreciate him as a manager, his football philosophy, his football and how the team is going to perform and go from strength to strength with Maresca’s leadership.

“I think it will be a great addition to the team. This is a big challenge – this scares off many people. The beauty with Enzo is he actually wants that challenge, he loves that challenge.”

Maresca was an influential figure during his single season under Guardiola, with the Spaniard often leaning on the former Chelsea boss for tactical innovations.

It was during that campaign that Guardiola rebranded England defender John Stones as a central midfielder, with him playing a starring role in the Treble-clinching Champions League final win against Inter Milan.

Maresca, who was head coach of City’s Elite Development Squad in the 2020-21 season, left a lasting impression on the academy.

Gareth Taylor, who now leads Liverpool’s women’s team and spent time with Maresca at City, told BBC Sport: “Enzo brought something a little bit different.

“He certainly had more freedom in the way he set up his teams, because previously most coaches in that environment were strictly told to follow a specific game model.

“It was as if no-one had that conversation with Enzo, but it was positive because you have to evolve – you cannot stand still tactically. At City, as long as you could back up your rationale, it would be listened to and potentially adopted.”

Of course, Maresca is still Italian and was also influenced by playing under legendary coaches Carlo Ancelotti and Marcelo Lippi.

However, after a poor first spell in management at Parma, his time in Manchester earned him a managerial role at Leicester City and then Chelsea.

What can City fans expect from Maresca?

City insiders have spoken glowingly about Maresca and he will now be expected to continue the philosophy of Guardiola.

The legendary Spaniard won 20 trophies during his decade-long tenure and Maresca now has the unenviable task of continuing that winning culture that has been engrained in the club.

City players are scheduled to report for pre-season on 20 July, with those taking part in the World Cup given extra time off, but what is on Maresca’s immediate to-do list once he gets started?

The club record £116m arrival of England midfielder Elliot Anderson should be confirmed sometime this week and City will turn their attention towards signing a new right-back.

There has been talk of Chelsea’s Malo Gusto making a reunion with his old manager while City have also been linked with a move for Lille’s 18-year-old Moroccan midfield sensation Ayyoub Bouaddi.

With midfielder Rodri entering the final 12 months of his contract at Etihad Stadium, one of Maresca’s priorities will be to try and tie the Spain captain down to a new deal.

The Italian also has a decision to make for his number one as he likes his goalkeeper to be good with his feet – will compatriot Gianluigi Donnarumma keep hold of the shirt or will James Trafford be given a chance to establish himself as a first-team regular?

Chess, tactics and philosophy

Enzo Maresca and Pep Guardiola embrace while managing opposing teams in pre-season for Chelsea and Man City — Enzo Maresca and Pep Guardiola embrace while managing opposing teams in pre-season last year for Chelsea and Man City [Getty Images]

Maresca sees himself as a master tactician but also someone who wants control.

Almost always lining up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, Maresca wants his teams to hoard possession, stop counter-attacks and be dominant.

It’s eerily similar to how Guardiola’s teams play, with physicality needed from those in attack to press when out of possession and win the ball high up the pitch.

At both Chelsea and Leicester, Maresca had bad runs of form despite being an overall success and had faced criticism for being too slow with his build-up play.

However, Maresca typically looks to avoid stagnated attacks through fluid positional rotations. At the end of last season, this approach saw Marc Cucurella arrive in the box to good effect after drifting into an advanced midfield role.

There was also a tactical masterstroke in the Club World Cup final, when an asymmetric overlapping full-back was introduced in Malo Gusto on the right. This pinned back Paris St-Germain left-back Nuno Mendes and created space for Cole Palmer in the 3-0 win in New Jersey.

It harks back to the beginning of his career where he both studied the famous Catalan coach, who also worked at Bayern Munich, and his footballing education in his native Italy.

Famously, Maresca wrote a 7,000-word thesis on the similarities between football and chess at Italy’s Coverciano institute. He compared football to grandmaster strategy by citing a famous 1991 World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi.

Maresca, and his assistants Caballero and Danny Walker, who are expected to re-join City with him, have used this pause in their careers for rest and knowledge gathering.

Like Guardiola, Maresca talks to Julio Velasco, an Argentine-Italian volleyball coach, and basketball coach Ettore Messina, as he searches for ideas outside of football.

He is also known to be studying artificial intelligence and is only known to have attended one live match, appearing at Leicester City’s home game against Norwich two months ago.

Maresca has been reading French philosopher Rene Descartes and, fittingly, the book Football and Chess by Adam Wells, while on his family holidays.

He has given few interviews while locked in legal discussions with Chelsea about compensation, with his staff having been placed on gardening leave.

Bouncing back from acrimonious Chelsea exit

Maresca can often come across as distant and terse when dealing with the media.

He is different with his players, when he can be extremely direct. When asked why he dropped winger Noni Madueke during his time at Chelsea, Maresca famously replied it was a “technical decision”.

Despite his style, Maresca was a largely popular figure with the players at Stamford Bridge and there was widespread frustration when a breakdown in his relationship with the hierarchy led to his exit.

His former employers at Chelsea accept his departure undermined the club’s season, having finished 10th after losing at Sunderland on the final day of the season.

Chelsea will, however, feel vindicated in their belief that he engineered his exit, after receiving compensation of £17m from City.

Maresca may well be worth it having won the Club World Cup and Conference League in his debut season. He is also the only Chelsea coach to qualify for the Champions League since BlueCo bought the club in 2002, finishing fourth in the Premier League table last season.

After his acrimonious exit, it will be interesting to see how he is received when he returns to Stamford Bridge next season as an opposing manager, both in official club communications and by supporters in the stands, where opinion remains divided on his style of play and his tenure.

Source link