The Evolution of Coaching: Insights from Chelsea Manager Maresca

Maresca will make his debut for Chelsea against Manchester City this Sunday.

He began, "We need to arrive and compete. For sure, my dream is to compete with the teams that at this moment are dominating English football – this is my dream, 100 per cent. But to close that gap is not automatic. It’s about training and working together.

"In this moment, it can happen that there will be some games that you see the team very good, and the game after maybe the level drops a little bit. But the more we work together, we become more consistent in what we do."

On his influences, Maresca explained: "I worked under (Carlo) Ancelotti as a player, (Marcello) Lippi as a player, (Manuel) Pellegrini as a player, and then I worked with Pep for two seasons at Manchester City. I try to take things from all of them and create my own box to put everything inside.

"I do not consider Pep a manager, I consider him a genius because he is ahead of the rest. When you are with him and close, of course, you try to see things and learn to create your idea (as a coach)."