Pep Guardiola is quoted in an excellent article from the soccer tactical website Phase of Play as saying, “If your possession doesn’t have emotion or life, or you are not creating danger, I’d rather play on the counterattack.”
As a supporter and lover of Leicester, you strive to keep up with every rumor and discussion involving form, matches, players, coaching staff, results, and of course, all the many blog discussions, making sure to pay special attention to Rob Tanner’s in-depth and well-written pieces for The Athletic.
His most recent article on tactical decisions, data, and game play provides excellent insight into the entire package. There are certainly many positives, but there are also elements of the play that might raise serious concerns. By examining these stats with Pep Guardiola’s quote in mind, you are obtaining a picture that cannot be criticized.
Enzo Maresca has a ways to go before he can approach anything produced by his former manager, according to the statistics compiled from Leicester’s games so far, which show that there is a lot of possession but little to no penetration.
In football, there is no this or that because both playing with possession and counterattacking are necessary elements of the game. The important considerations are how many passes you make to set up a scoring opportunity, how quickly you move the ball forward, and of course the speed and quality of your approach.
With lots of possession, Brendan Rodgers had trouble finishing off games. Enzo Maresca hasn’t improved this because passing by itself doesn’t help if you throw away victories.
Leicester don’t always appear to be at ease with their new approach because the gradual buildup and extreme patience can yield little to no final product. The middle region likely lacked inventiveness and took too little risk, in addition to the three front men’s abilities.
#LCFC have made 96 sequences where there has been 10 or more passes in the build-up (Southampton are top with 110), but 29 of them have ended in a shot or at least one touch in the opposition’s box, one more than Saints
A statistical look at City’s start. https://t.co/qAwW7w5CxZ— Rob Tanner (@RobTannerLCFC) September 11, 2023
Questions need to be raised about Enzo’s behavior toward some players, who are excellent footballers and professionals who have proven in other settings that they can play and perform well. A manager needs to develop his own style, and it’s important to have role models, but as we have seen in the past, an assistant manager is not the same as the manager.
As Pep’s comments make a lot of sense and watching Man City at the moment compared to Leicester is like watching two very different movies, it will be intriguing to observe Enzo’s evolution.