Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall admits it took him and his Leicester City colleagues a bit of time to get used to Enzo Maresca’s Pep Guardiola-inspired approach – but feels the Championship league leaders have reaped plentiful rewards from the Italian’s management.
A former Manchester City youth coach turned assistant to Guardiola, Maresca arrived at the King Power Stadium as Dean Smith’s replacement last summer following the club’s relegation from the Premier League.
Leicester have sat top of the Championship for much of the campaign, although a decidedly dodgy patch of form over the past two months has meant they have lost the commanding lead they once held over Ipswich Town and Leeds United and have had to scrap to get back of the pile having briefly fallen down to third.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall admits Leicester City players initially felt ‘out of their depth’ under Enzo Maresca
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall says he and his Leicester team-mates felt out of their depth under Maresca to begin with (Image credit: Getty Images)
The latest edition of FourFourTwo magazine named 12-goal 13-assist Dewsbury-Hall as the best player in the EFL this month, but he admitted to FFT that all knew about Maresca was ‘only that he was Pep Guardiola’s assistant’.
He added: “I immediately thought, ‘He must be top-level, because Pep isn’t the sort of guy to appoint anyone as his right-hand man’.
“I wondered if he’d adapt styles from Pep or bring his own – he’s done a bit of both. Obviously he’s learned from one of the greatest managers ever, but he’s also implemented his own methods. He’s first class. At times he makes it look easy, the way we play, and it’s not.”
Maresca has taken a cue from Guardiola’s inverted full-backs this season, asking a wide defender to step into central midfield to allow an extra man to stop into the front line.
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Pep Guardiola has had an influence over the title race in the second tier (Image credit: Getty Images)
Dewsbury-Hall commented: “I’ll be honest: for the first few weeks, players were openly saying they felt a bit stupid.
“A lot of the things he was saying, the lads hadn’t seen before. The way he explained it made it look so simple and we were telling ourselves, ‘How did we not know this?’ We felt out of our depth! The more you do it, the more it feels second nature. That’s why the top teams are so good: they’re all on the same wavelength.”
The midfielder feels that really started to click around the end of October, saying: “We played Swansea and they scored early on, but we didn’t change the way we played and won 3-1.
“We played some very good football and even had opposition players saying to us, ‘You’re one of the best sides we’ve played at this level’. One: fair play, I respect somebody admitting that. And two: it shows that what we’re doing is working. I enjoy it. You’re free, you’re playing great football, you’re creating chances, and for me it’s the best way to play.”
Despite their recent wobble, Leicester remain hopeful of sealing an immediate return back to the top flight. They have a game in hand over automatic promotion rivals Ipswich, who are behind them on goal difference, and Leeds, who are a point behind in third place.
Maresca’s side will take on West Brom, Southampton, Preston and Blackburn in their final four games of the Championship campaign.
