From Sacchi’s Orchestra to Individualism: Maresca’s Football Symphony

Last week, interviewing Enzo Maresca on Sky Sports at a dimly lit background setting, host Natalie Gedra asked many questions about his Italian roots, coaching influences, his Idea of football and balancing it with freedom, box-to-box play, and many more.

Wearing a casual Chelsea training outfit, Maresca answers everything based on his positionalism genre. Maintaining a frank tone, he shares his experience without any bold claims. In this interview, he even opens up about his transition to the Spanish way of football from the Italian way.

Doing Chaos on The Field Is Not Freedom

Sometimes football terminology can be quite confusing. Even though there are academic definitions, the language of the game often goes beyond them. After all, most of the football stakeholders, the fans and the media tend to create their own interpretations and expressions. Even theorists, managers, and analysts have different arguments.

When the Sky Sports host asked him how he balances his core positional philosophy with freedom. However, Maresca openly decoded, drawing a line between freedom and chaos. As he stated,

“If freedom means you can go everywhere, that’s not freedom, that’s chaos.”

Following one of the intense invasion games of the ball family, various theories have emerged around the idea of freedom. Although he defines freedom in his own terms, he believes it comes from positional awareness — creating more space and allowing his players more time on the ball.

He added, “I still think the idea of positional game can provide a better picture, better space, better solution. I also love players giving freedom, but at the right position, as at the end it’s all about team balance.”

Polls apart from the statements he made, anti-positional ideas still exist, where freedom has different definitions. However, Maresca tried to establish that freedom comes with boundaries while the team works collectively.

Sacchi’s Orchestra or Individualism?

Discussing many managers like Marcelo Lippe, Carlo Ancelotti, Pelligrini and many more, Enzo Maresca labelled Sacchi, Cruyff and Pep as ‘tactical geniuses’.

Reflecting on Arrigo Sacchi’s brilliance in redefining the Italian football genre, he was once again confronted with a familiar question: How does he manage individualism within his collective system today?

Compared to Sacchi’s Orchestra philosophy, Enzo Maresca shared his thoughts that sometimes an orchestra needs nothing but one or two good artists who can set a magnificent tone with small details.

“Like in my team, everyone working on one direction and then you need Cole Palmer, you need Esteo, you need players in some moments they can decide the game in the way you do.”

If we relate to a music band, expert musicians often suggest that everyone is important for a band, like the vocalist and other instrumental artists, but the Drummer is the heart, the Bass guitarist is the spine, and the vocalist is the soul of the band.

Experience as a Box-to-Box Midfielder

Maresca returned to Italy after two years of his debut as a player for the English side West Bromwich. He played for clubs like Juventas, Florentina, and Bologna while spending five precious years of his career. But then he moved to the Spanish club Sevilla. Where, under Juande Ramos, he evolved as a box-to-box midfielder.

However, when he was asked about his experience, he mocked himself by saying,

“Sometimes the midfielders, they are very good at defending, or they are good at attacking. I was not very good defensive, not very good attacking.”

Make fun of himself, he added, “I was okay.”

Albeit, he appreciates Enzo Fernandes while using him as an example. Somehow, he thinks the Argentine struggled a lot in his early days with where to arrive and where to finish on the field.

“But now he is always in the right position. It’s always dangerous.”

Expressing his views on the qualities of a good box-to-box midfielder, he suggests,

“You can’t go random. You have to arrive at right position of the box to finish”

 

Not giving any controversial headline to mainstream media, Maresca talks about his way of football, tactics, gives examples and pays tribute to those managers who influenced him most. Albeit, he believes the game is rapidly evolving around his philosophy. So, being consistent with the achievements, teams have to learn from every moment of the game.