Maresca admits he used Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool as a first team to study when entering coaching.
"When I finished playing and started as a manager I watched 38 games of Liverpool in one week, to study and to analyse how good they were with the previous manager in terms of their pressing and those kinds of things," the Italian recalled.
"It was Christmas time, I still remember. I was starting to watch different kinds of football, to understand and to see how the best teams were doing things. So I really know the Liverpool players because I watched them many, many times.
"That team, in the first few years with Klopp, the way they were pressing was special because of (Mohamed) Salah, (Roberto) Firmino and (Sadio) Mane. So it’s not only on the ball, it’s also off the ball. The way they were aggressive was something unbelievable.
"So I really like Salah not only because he’s good on the ball, but because he’s a fantastic player also off the ball. They use Salah in all the moments, going from the keeper to Salah, from (Virgil) Van Dijk to Salah, from (Alexis) Mac Allister to Salah, so probably he’s the main player for them."
On the improvement of Cole Palmer, Maresca also said: "This is not only for Cole, but for many players. I’ve said many times we have many quality players.
"Unfortunately for forwards I don’t think talent is enough, you need more. It’s not only about Cole, it’s about all the attacking players we have.
"You see how Noni in this moment is pressing. He’s pressing forward, he’s running back and he’s doing very good with us and not only because he’s scoring goals. It’s something we need from all the rest, players like Joao (Felix), Christo (Nkunku), Misha (Mudryk), Jadon (Sancho), these kind of players.
"Today for a forward it is not enough to be good on the ball. You have to be good on the ball and off the ball."