Who is Enzo Maresca and why is he important to West Ham?

The Guardian has come out with a damning story about Manuel Pellegrini. More specifically one of his coaches who prepped the team tactically for the Chelsea match. What does this mean for West Ham and who is he?

As mentioned, the Guardian’s expose on Manuel Pellegrini’s free and loose preparation for the Chelsea match has caused quite a stir in the West Ham world. Jacob Steinberg‘s article outlines that Pellegrini allowed Enzo Maresca, one of his assistant coaches, to tactically prepare the team for the Chelsea match that ended 1-0 to the Hammers in a surprising turn of fate.

The basic pre-scout that Maresca used to prep the team was an understanding of Chelsea’s strong midfield, which he nullified by clogging the middle of the pitch and pushing the Blues players out wide. Plenty of Chelsea attacks died with arrant crosses that failed to find any targets due to their powerful midfield being largely removed from the match.

Steinberg rightfully outlines the fact that this win seemingly bought Pellegrini more time as the Hammers’ manager when it really shouldn’t be credited to him at all. This entire season the Irons’ team tactics have been non-existent due to the very obvious use of opposition pre-scouts. Pellegrini, who has shown himself to be a stubborn manager, clearly prefers to set his team up in the same formation using the same ‘game plan’ (which I still can’t identify) in the unrealistic hope that his squad will dictate every game regardless of the opponent.

So, who is Ezno Maresca?

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Currently, Enzo Maresca is the assistant manager under Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham. He has had three previous senior coaching positions – Ascoli’s assistant manager in Serie B in 2016/2017, as well as Sevilla’s assistant manager and Sevilla’s technical coach through the 2017/2018 season.

Maresca also had quite the playing career. He started out with the Caliguri U19 team in 1998 and moved to West Brom where he then switched to Juventus after a short stint with the Baggies in 2000. He had a few loans out from Juve, eventually moving to Sevilla and Olympiacos before playing for Manuel Pellegrini at Malaga from 2010-2012. The midfielder retired in 2017 with Hellas Verona in Italy.

His playstyle was described as an energetic, playmaking midfielder who could play in all midfield positions. He liked to lie deep and pull the strings of the team but also excelled in a box-to-box role where he could stay more advanced. It’s clear that his career helped shape his coaching style against Chelsea as he knew how to neutralize their midfield three.

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At 39 years old, Maresca could be the favourite to replace Pellegrini in the caretaker position should he get sacked after the Southampton match. If I were him, I wouldn’t be accepting any more tactical opportunities from Pellegrini either, with my sights set on taking the job! Regardless, it’s nice to see a younger manager taking charge in the behind-the-scenes and inspire a more than capable team to a much-needed win.