From Maresca to Slot - What can we expect from the Premier League's new managers?

It figures. Looking at the manager changes this summer, his reign isn’t over.

Until recently football’s infatuation with Guardiola appeared to be weakening. His impending departure was coinciding with a subtle push back on ‘positionism’; an anti-improvisation idea that became so ubiquitous we almost forgot that anything else was possible.

In England the list of managers reacting to the possession standard with fast transitions and press-baiting had been quietly growing: Roberto de Zerbi, Unai Emery, Andoni Iraola, Erik ten Hag, and Oliver Glasner were among those offering an antidote to the popular idea that Guardiola-ism was the end of history.

But this summer the Pep disciples have strengthened their grip. Out go De Zerbi, Jurgen Klopp, David Moyes, Mauricio Pochettino, and Rob Edwards - not a Guardiola guy in sight. In comes a cavalry of his fans: Enzo Maresca, Fabian Hurzeler, Arne Slot, Julen Lopetegui, and Russell Martin.

Does that mean Guardiola’s possession-centric ideas are back in fashion? Not necessarily.

In fact, as the Premier League tries to shake it off, clubs tacking hard to the Man City way might discover those methods are now outdated; that all of a sudden they risk being caught behind the times - some more than others.

Enzo Maresca

Maresca, ex-assistant at Man City, is the most glaring example of a Guardiola disciple and the canary in the coal mine in regards to whether the Premier League has moved on.

Many Leicester City supporters were unhappy with the slow and ultra-meticulous possession football; with the positional play consciously inspired by the manager’s love of chess. It got results when Leicester were the runaway favourites in the Championship, but that does not mean it translates to a division increasingly defined by targeted pressing and blunt-force transitions that look to counter straight through expansive formations.

There is already some evidence from pre-season that Chelsea might struggle. Maresca’s very high defensive line has repeatedly been cut open, while his defenders are making numerous unforced errors as they try to get to grips with a crawling build-up structure.

It should concern Chelsea supporters that so much of Maresca’s tactics are theoretical. One year at the best club in the Championship and a disastrous 14-game spell at Parma is a thin CV to inherit a perma-crisis at Chelsea.

It’s clearly possible their 40+ players won’t be inspired by a system that deliberately tempers individuality.

Russell Martin

The chess problem also exists at Southampton, where Russell Martin’s similarly single-minded approach has long-frustrated Saints fans and probably would have led to his departure had the Sky Bet Championship play-off final gone Leeds United’s way.

He is as idealistic and zealous as Maresca, playing slow and steady possession football from back to front that divided fans at MK Dons and Swansea, where Martin’s methods didn’t bring the right results.

Finishing fourth in the Championship with a squad as talented as Southampton’s could also be seen as under-achievement.

They will play in a 2-3-5 with Kyle Walker-Peters inverting from right-back into central midfield (another nod to Guardiola), although their hard pressing from the front makes them wilder than Man City. Only three Championship clubs conceded more than Saints’ 54 open-play goals last season and two of them went down.

That will have to change next season.

In fact, the majority of their tactical traits will need ditching, because the financial chasm between the Championship and the Premier League makes possession football quickly redundant upon promotion. Martins will adapt or die.

Here is the inherent and unavoidable problem with Guardiola’s influence on the Premier League. As Vincent Kompany found out at Burnley, it is a tactical philosophy designed to work specifically and exclusively for elite teams capable of inflicting death by a thousand passes.

Kieran McKenna

It’s why Kieran McKenna stands a much better chance of succeeding than any of the other new faces.

Ipswich Town will also need to dramatically downgrade their ambition, but the directness, urgency, and flexibility in McKenna’s adventurous 4-2-3-1 leaves room for adaptation.

He can drop the line deeper and play more conservatively while retaining the fluid movement, high numbers, and counter-pressing creativity that defined their back-to-back promotions.

To put it another way, the Guardiola types have a unifying principle that requires domination in every third, whereas the more aggressive, Germanic, or transition-based managers can fiddle with the dial and still retain the attacking side of their coaching.

We just don’t know how Ipswich will cope, but we do know that a coach as bright and adaptable as McKenna will come up with something quite different from his Championship tactics.

Fabian Hürzeler

Hürzeler won’t be forced to adapt – but he is still a hugely risky appointment. A lot has been made of the 31-year-old’s age but more to the point he only has two years of managerial experience in the Bundesliga II to his name.

Rather than build on De Zerbi, Brighton have hired someone far more interested in keeping the ball in their hands and away from goal. St Pauli conceded the lowest xG in the division (36.1) and had the second most possession (56.9%), and although they do bait the press Hürzeler’s is considerably less radical than De Zerbi’s.

The artificial transitions are out.

Like Martins, Hürzeler may quickly find his ponderous ideas picked apart by the transitional football of Glasner, Iraola, Emery, Eddie Howe and others, not in spite of Guardiola’s influence but because of it.

What has developed over the last couple of years in the Premier League is a direct response to the Guardiola ubiquity; pinch the ball in sudden flurries of pressing and burst behind the high line.

Hürzeler, then, isn’t necessarily the progressive appointment he seems.

Arne Slot

The returning influx of Guardiolistas may not mean the Premier League is reverting back into that comfort zone.

But even if English football continues to evolve away from the Man City manager it is hard not to feel a little depressed by the new uniformity right at the top of the league, where Guardiola’s great tactical rival has been replaced by Slot: a self-described “control freak” who looks up to Pep.

Slot does rely on the counter-press as Jurgen Klopp did (since Slot arrived at Feyenoord in 2020/21, only Liverpool and Bayern Munich have recorded more shot-ending high turnovers than their 259) but there is no doubt he plays in a more controlled, more systemic, and less individualised way than his predecessor: “It's very elegant, Dutch style, it's very nice,” Harvey Elliot said recently. “The style of play is a lot different. It's more about in possession.”

All three title contenders now play roughly the same way. That’s the last thing the Premier League needs.

Entertaining football has always been about contrast, about theories clashing. Homogeneity, especially when built on a kind of regimented chess, is never a good thing.

Until very recently that style felt like the past, or at least a fading present. But all of a sudden Guardiola might stay, and so too his tactical grip on the Premier League.

More from Sporting Life

• Fixtures, results and live scores
• Expert xG analysis and features
• Transfer news and done deals
• Football and other sports tips
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.