Maresca navigates early Manchester City tenure with Old Trafford win and tactical calm
Enzo Maresca's Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday in the Premier League, extending a run that the club says has seen him win all five Premier League and Champions League games in charge this season. The victory came despite City playing much of the match with 10 men following Phil Foden's sending-off.
Maresca succeeded Pep Guardiola in the summer and has faced immediate comparisons with previous high-profile managerial changes, including David Moyes replacing Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013; Maresca himself referenced Ferguson and Arsene Wenger at his unveiling, saying clubs "struggled a little bit" after long-serving managers left. Guardiola, whose final month at City included advising the next manager to "Be themselves," is frequently invoked, but Maresca has begun to establish his own approach at the club.
Sunday's Old Trafford win was described by the report as Maresca's most significant since taking charge and required composure after Phil Foden was sent off, leaving City a player down for much of the match. The players' calm under pressure was noted as mirroring the manager's temperament, and the result followed a Champions League victory at Porto as part of the sequence of wins cited earlier.
Maresca contrasted his current handling of in-game disruption with a previous episode last September when goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was dismissed after only five minutes for his former side Chelsea at the same venue; on that occasion City made two substitutions in the opening seven minutes and shifted to a back five but failed to see the game out. Against United, Maresca opted to assess the situation before altering his starting XI, moving Rayan Cherki to the right and replacing him at half-time with Iliman Ndiaye as a tactical adjustment.
Asked about Erling Haaland's winner and his season contributions, Maresca quipped: "How do you say in English? Happy wife, happy life. For us, happy Erling, happy life." His public demeanour, described as jovial and often standing motionless by the pitch with his arms folded, was set against portrayals of Guardiola as more animated on the touchline.
Maresca has introduced changes in training, notably playing loud house music he described as the "boom, boom, boom" type to make players feel "more happy" and "work better." New captain Ruben Dias told BBC Sport that while Maresca has put his ideas into sessions and added new details to pressing and defending, the fundamentals remain similar to the way the club has always behaved: "There's obviously many things from training sessions to some details about the way we press, details about the way we defend that make all of these Enzo's idea. "It's still a change, of course. Many things have changed, but in some ways continuity in terms of the way we are playing, and there are details that make it different. But still, all very similar to the way we have always behaved at the club."
City began the campaign with a 3-0 Community Shield defeat by Arsenal but have since compiled the winning sequence that includes the Champions League victory at Porto; the side sit joint-top of the Premier League alongside Arsenal in the early table, according to the report. Maresca acknowledged in pre-season that Guardiola would be a regular point of reference but said "it doesn't put pressure on me," and the piece notes the manager described succeeding Guardiola as both a "challenge" and a "privilege." The report adds that City made major squad changes in the summer and that Maresca was the only person City targeted to take over.
City will begin their Carabao Cup defence against Norwich at the Etihad on Thursday (19:30 BST), followed by a Premier League home fixture against Sunderland three days later; the article concludes that victory in those next two games would ensure a near-perfect start to Maresca's tenure in the job.