London is Blue Dispatch #065

For all the talk of a manager welded to his principles, Maresca began by changing his entire XI against Gent. The Belgians must have known what was coming – after all, Maresca did the same thing vs Barrow. In that game, he devised an ultra-attacking 3-1-5-1, Gusto inverting from rightback into a trifecta of attacking midfielders.

The Belgians must have expected something similar to a 3-2-2-3 the Italian has used in the PL. However, there was no double pivot for the Belgian front two to shield. Cesare Casadei reprised a reprised an unfamiliar role as a lone pivot at the base of a diamond. Casadei and Maresca know each other from Leicester. Maresca himself has acknowledged Casadei is a box-to-box midfielder – a powerful off-ball runner who excels when attacking the box from deep. That’s what made him the Golden Boot winner at the U20 World Cup last year, scoring seven from midfield in the tournament.

Against Gent, Casadei managed 100 touches, the most he’s managed in his senior career. At his Leicester & Reading loans in the past two seasons, he crossed 60 touches only on two occasions, one for each club. Last night he only lost the ball 6 times, made 3 interceptions and completed 97% of his passes, most of them short & safe to ensure Gent didn’t get a chance to utilize their dangerous ability to win the ball in a midblock and break. By the time they did, the game was already well out of reach.

Such stark contrast in a player’s playing style and output is another one of a number of positive experiments from Maresca. Here is a tinkerer who has tried Neto on the left multiple times before switching him to his preferred right. Malo Gusto ended up at left-wing for some reason in a preseason fixture vs Man City. Dewsbury-Hall, featuring on the left-side of midfield, shifted to the right here. Renato Veiga, who was expected to slot into midfield next to Casadei, instead found himself as an 8, excelling in a man-of-the-match display.

Many, including myself, were wary of him turning out to be a one-trick pony after making few adjustments at Leicester. But here, bestowed with a spanking new armoury, Maresca has perused every weapon carefully – testing each at short & long range, switching its ammunition, holding it at different angles, even if the recoil risked clattering him in the face.

On Sunday, Forest will offer a strong test of how and when he switches between his two gameplans. Our weekend’s opponents manage a frugal 40.3% of possession this season, placing them 3^rd from bottom. Elliot Anderson, a sturdy CM, has been slotting on the wings. It was his deployment on Liverpool’s dangerous flank that led to Arne Slot’s blanking for the only time this season. They have scored 2 or more in every other game this season. It wasn’t a fluke either; Liverpool mustered only 0.94 xG in that game, creating no big chances in the 2^nd half. It was Forest that created two, capitalizing on the Merseysiders’ increasing anxiety in dropping two points.

After scoring four in three successive games for the first time in 12 years, does Maresca continue with an aggressive approach against a side expected to set-up in a tight midblock and a watertight low-block? Or does he trust the league’s most potent attack this season to find solutions early & quickly? Sunday promises to be a tight game indeed, testing the limits of the side’s patience and application.

The last time the Blues had an Italian tinkerman with ties to Leicester, it marked the dawn of a special era. A sixth win on the bounce will turn quiet excitement to fervent dreams of something special.