Enzo Maresca has made the surprise jump from Leicester City to Chelsea despite only just getting The Foxes promoted to the Premier League, and Leeds United star Patrick Bamford is a fan.
Leicester were relegated alongside Leeds during 2022-23 to The Championship, but bounced back into the Premier League immediately as Champions. They clocked up a huge 97 points from 46 matches.
Maresca’s 4-3-3 system saw the likes of Harry Winks, Wout Faes and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all shine. But it was the Italian’s tactics, the freedom the Leicester players seem to have, that was key to their success.
Despite lining up as a midfielder, Dewsbury-Hall was often bombing on beyond the striker. His wingers played as strikers at times and it proved no match for Championship opponents, scoring 89 league goals.
Leeds finished seven points behind Leicester in third and ultimately, failed to gain promotion. But even so, Bamford admitted he was “fascinated” by something Maresca did during his year as Leicester manager.
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Maresca explains his use of inverted full-backs at Leicester
Something that Maresca used to Leicester’s advantage last season was his use of inverted full-backs. Something we have seen Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta all deploy in the Premier League.
Whether it be Trent Alexander-Arnold drifting into midfield, or Oleksandr Zinchencko making passes away from his left-back role, all of the modern managers are now doing it and Maresca was no different.
During an interview with The Coaches’ Voice, Maresca explains how he used the likes of Ricardo Pereira, James Justin and other full-backs during the 2023-24 season to create an overload and stop the counter.
Below, is the YouTube version in which Maresca explains his inverted full-back system.
Leeds’ Bamford mesmerised by new Chelsea manager Maresca
Speaking on his podcast My Mate’s A Footballer with comedian Joe Wilkinson, Bamford says how he watched Maresca explain his tactics and he was “so interested” in what the new Chelsea boss was saying.
Maresca of course worked under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and previously managed Parma, but it was at Leicester that really got the best out of the Italian and his tactical decision to invert his defenders.
Bamford said: “I actually watched something the other day on The Coaches’ Voice. The new Chelsea boss who was at Leicester, explaining why he does the inverted full-back. It’s so interesting.
“The main reason to play a typical 4-3-3, when you attack your wingers come inside and your full-backs push high. But you’re defending the transition with two centre-backs and one holding midfielder.
“But he said if you put the inverted full-back in, you’ve got five defending transition. Full-back and two centre-backs go into a three, an inverted full-back and a midfielder. You need to watch it, it’s fascinating.”