Maresca sees freedom differently.
“If the freedom for you is that you can move everywhere, that is not freedom, that is chaos,” he told Sky Sports last September.
“[Our] freedom? You can do what you want in the position you receive the ball.”
Manchester City’s starting XI occupy specific zones on the pitch in their 3-2-5 or 3-1-3-3 shape on the ball.
This makes their approach more predictable for opponents but it means that City’s players know each player’s role, where they are likely to be positioned and how they are likely to move.
After City’s win against Coventry, Maresca said that Iliman Ndiaye had had minimal training time and explained that meant sometimes “he was moving in the wrong way [into the] wrong position” for how City intend to play.
The advantage of this more fixed style is that, even if opponents know what is coming, the speed of execution can still make it difficult to stop.
Also, less spontaneous thinking is required to unlock a defence as solutions are set out by their manager and drilled through repetition over a season.