Enzo Maresca has just taken his press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game against West Ham, and after a quiet week there were plenty of football related questions for the coach.
One question we’ve been curious about all week is how the Italian intends to use his attacking players. There’s a real surfeit right now, and last weekend Christopher Nkunku won the game off the bench to increase the pressure on Maresca to start him.
So is the Frenchman competing with Nicolas Jackson as a striker or with Cole Palmer as a ten? Maresca willingly explained all:
“Hopefully I can clarify. As a left winger, we have Jadon and Misha. On the right, we have Noni and Pedro. As a 10 we have Cole and Joao. As a nine we have Christoph and Nicolas.”
There are a few interesting things about this, with perhaps the key takeaway being that Maresca without doubt considers Nkunku as a striker in competition with Jackson. He expanded upon this further in another answer:
“We use Christoph in the nine in the last game. He is completely different to Nicolas. Nico is a number nine and Christo isn’t a real number nine. I am so happy with the squad we have, not just Christo and Nicolas.
“Christo doesn’t like to play wide, he likes to be in the centre of the pitch – we know that. But sometimes to find the balance, he plays in a position that isn’t the best for him.”
Flexibility in attack will continue all season
Of course, this is just how Maresca sees it within the current setup. There’s always the possibility that the formation or the system changes as time goes by. We saw last season’s star player Cole Palmer used in a number of roles, and the sheer amount of attacking options and different competitions this season means we will likely see countless combinations.