Leicester City and Enzo Maresca have had problems caused against them a lot this season where the opposition will sit deep and try to soak up pressure, due to the Foxes being one of the best attacking teams in the Championship, currently sat top of the table.
Manager Enzo Maresca revealed in his press conference last week that he is replicating a session that one of the best managers in the world uses to help set his team up against team like these, in Pep Guardiola.
Maresca worked under Guardiola as a first team coach before making the move to the King Power Stadium in the summer.
Enzo Maresca on bringing in the under-21s
The session involves bringing in the under-21 players the day before and the day after a game to help, which Maresca says they do in preparation for nearly every game.
“Almost every time, the day before the game, we use the under-21s,” Maresca told the Leicester Mercury. “And we try to use them in the same way the day after we are going to face a team.
“Even against the under-21s, when they sit back, we struggle to find the golden solution. But not because we are bad, because it’s complicated to find when they are all there.
“When they press higher, we have more space. But even with the second team, that we use a lot, we struggle. It’s normal.”
Enzo Maresca’s coach says the session is great for younger players
Current Leicester city coach Danny Walker spoke about these session in 2020, after he led Manchester City’s second team in the exercise ahead of City’s game against Real Madrid, which they ended up winning 2-1.
“We were Real Madrid so we did a great job!” Walker said three years ago. “Taking aside training our boys, just to go next to the pitch and watch Pep work… he’s the best coach in the world so just to see him work and how he puts his ideas across, how he is with the players. The players in the first team environment are the very best in the world so the way that he gets his ideas across and the way that they buy into it.”