I recently wrote an article about how obsessed Enzo Maresca is with football. He loves the game so much, he lives and breathes it every single game.
He won’t call it work, but the hard ‘work’ Maresca puts into his ‘job’ right now may be the hardest you’ve ever witnessed in the game. I don’t want to be part of that person’s family. Because I’m sure they won’t look. You can imagine him giving them an hour or so at Christmas, having a meal together, and then coming straight home. The office spends the afternoon preparing for Chelsea’s next match.
And that seems to be how he is spending his days leading up to Sunday now. He is boldly studying and preparing for the Manchester United match, and is also expected to play in the cup match against Newcastle United.
But of course, the sacking of Erik Ten Hag has made preparations for Sunday much more difficult and, at the time of writing, it is unknown who will be in the dugout at Old Trafford this weekend.
Kieran Gill, Daily Mail On Tuesday night, it was reported that Erik ten Hag’s sacking had complicated Chelsea’s week, as they had already analyzed Manchester United’s play under the Dutchman in preparation for Sunday.
Maresca said he is now ‘contemplating’ PSV’s performance under Ruud van Nistelrooy. That’s because he’s likely to step into the dugout as caretaker manager of the Red Devils this Sunday.
He also knows he may have to switch back to Ruben Amorim and will be watching Sporting’s play and setup.
It is not normal to conduct research at this level. Don’t think this is just a normal part of game preparation, because I know of situations where many other coaches haven’t done this. Of course, many other managers work this way too, and Maresca is one of them. He and his staff do extensive research on the opposition before each game, and looking at how the manager prepares before looking at individual players is only a small part of that.
The fact that Maresca is studying van Nistelrooy and Amorim just in case is an incredible testament to the effort and energy he is putting into this and football in general. He is obsessed with the game.
This is definitely another big positive for us as Chelsea fans. Because we know that extensive research on our opponents will help us prepare and set up better.
I just had to mention this and write about it. Because it really impressed me and I’m sure it’s not the standard that all managers hold to as their standard. this A lot of effort was put into scouting opponents.
