TNT have the rights for Chelsea’s early kick off tomorrow, and they made the most of it by sitting down for a really in depth interview with Enzo Maresca about his coaching and tactics.
One thing Rio Ferdinand noted was Maresca’s use of his two solid central midfielders, especially now that Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo are being deployed there together in front of the back 4.
Maresca explained a little about what the idea of using those players there was, and how it was all a ploy to help out the attackers in the next line of the team:
“[The pivot players] are very important for many reasons. Firstly because they give us balance, but also the idea is if they are in the right position, behind the opposition midfield, they can receive the ball here, but even if they don’t receive the ball they attract opposition defenders.
“That means we have space with Malo Gusto, or with Cole Palmer, to allow them to have a little bit more time on the ball. So these positions are very important on the ball and off the ball.”
You can see the coach speaking in the clip embedded here, with this section coming after 5 minutes:
Palmer taking advantage of pivot setup; Gusto not so much
The setup has certainly created plenty of space for Cole Palmer, who has come into another strong season all guns blazing. Getting Malo Gusto into space between the lines, as illustrated here, is something which fans aren’t as happy about. Let’s just say the Frenchman isn’t quite as effective in the final third as Cole is.
But Maresca is getting the build up sorted first, and once that’s down we can start worrying about making sure Gusto is in the right positions to deliver.
