City's frailties under Enzo Maresca exposed after third straight defeat
Manchester City lost to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday in a Premier League match, completing a run of three consecutive defeats, and manager Enzo Maresca said he will use the international break to reassess. The sequence has prompted scrutiny of tactical and structural weaknesses within the side.
City began the season with seven straight wins from the start of the campaign but have now suffered three successive losses, a sequence recorded only once before in top-flight English history by Sheffield Wednesday in 1904-05. Maresca described the three defeats as different, while noting that in each game City had greater possession and created more chances. Against Aston Villa City had 63% possession and 15 chances to Villa’s eight; in the 1-0 home defeat to Brighton they registered 62% possession and 21 chances to seven; and at the City Ground they had 79% possession and 12 chances to 11.
Defensive form has worsened: City have not kept a clean sheet since their victory at Anfield after the last international break, nine games ago, and in the game before that they conceded three against Sunderland. Across the last eight matches City have allowed 17 goals, and the report notes that three of those can at least in part be blamed on errors by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The side’s vulnerability in transition was highlighted as Nottingham Forest exploited space behind a high back four, a weakness the article links to Maresca’s preference for a high defensive line. Critics of Maresca at Leicester and Chelsea have argued his teams can be overly cautious in possession, and the piece stresses that when possession is lost at pace duels become decisive because a high line leaves room in behind.
Maresca was reportedly disappointed that his players were outfought in the first half against Forest, with opposition centre-forward Liam Delap singled out as a danger when given space. The report also examines Maresca’s midfield selection, noting the club paid £125m ($167.7m) to sign Enzo Fernández from Chelsea and that Fernández, while highly rated, is described as not especially physical by Premier League standards.
Rayan Cherki is characterised in the piece as a highly gifted attacking midfielder who cannot be relied upon defensively in terms of positioning or tracking runs, a limitation Pep Guardiola acknowledged last season. The article argues that Cherki’s shortcomings are less acute with two mobile runners behind him—ideally an Elliot Anderson-style shuttler and a more defensive holding or ball-winning presence like Rodri—but states Rodri has gone and Fernández leaves Anderson with much of the physical work to do, meaning City can be exposed if Anderson is not in position or a break bypasses him.
Maresca confirmed he will use the international break to reassess the squad and tactics, saying this was a rare example where it was better for a team not to have another game straight away to try to put a defeat behind them. The piece also recalls that during the last international break an independent panel announced City had been found guilty of all but one of the charges brought against them by the Premier League, and adds there is a school of thought that sanctions could be announced during this international break, with uncertainty about how that cloud may be affecting player intensity and desire.
Maresca faces a decision over whether tactical changes can address the issues identified, including lineup choices such as playing Fernández and Cherki together, and the club will resume Premier League action after the international break while the possibility of sanctions being announced during the same period remains.