Enzo Maresca on “being real” as a man management skill | OneFootball

Since the moment most people became aware of him, Enzo Maresca has been portrayed as something of a “clipboard coach” or “laptop manager” of the modern breed. His association with Pep Guardiola, not to mention his similarity in terms of looks, means that link was inevitably.

His time at Leicester, his tactics and his dogma have all been looked at closely, and since his appointment at Chelsea we’ve heard all about his style of play and his influences as a tactician and a coach.

This is in part a contrast with the man who came before him. Mauricio Pochettino is much more known as a “vibes guy”, and so it’s natural to want to paint the new man as the opposite. But it’s not nearly as clear cut as that.

Let’s not forget that Maresca was a player too – and was playing a lot more recently than Pochettino was. While on the surface and in the press conferences we get questions about systems and formations, there’s a lot more to the Italian than that, as he explained in his really interesting and in depth interview on the club website today.

Enzo Maresca chats with his players behind the scenes at Cobham.

Maresca builds bonds with players

“Because of my experience as a player, I like to be quite close with the players because they need to feel the head coach wants them to be close in every aspect, not only football,” Maresca explained.

“You have to be honest with them, because they realise when you are not. When you speak to 22 to 25 players and you are not honest, they can see that. At the end of the day, they prefer when you are being real with them.”

So while we’re talking about his inverted full backs and double pivot setups, don’t sleep on Maresca’s man management either – it’s going to be huge as the season goes on.