Maresca Is Building Manchester City DIfferently

Manchester City won, entertained and absolutely destroyed Crystal Palace. And after only two Premier League matches, one thing is already becoming clear. Enzo Maresca's Manchester City is starting to take shape frighteningly quickly. Diet Pep Guardiola is real, because right now he's making it look as though City haven't even gone through one of the biggest restructures of their modern era. Guardiola is gone, several fundamental midfielders have left, and yet City have started the new season with two victories from two matches, while already showing signs of a completely new identity. Against Palace, the attacking talent was ridiculous. Erling Haaland scored twice, Ryan Chirky produced two outrageous goals, Phil Foden orchestrated the attack with two assists, and suddenly a Manchester City side entering a completely new era looked frighteningly familiar. Not because they're simply copying Guardiola, but because they already look capable of dominating games again. That's remarkable when you consider what happened to their midfield this summer. Bernardo Silva left, Rodri left, Tijani Reinders left, Nico Gonzalez left. For a moment, it looked like City were ripping the heart out of their own team. Instead, Elliot Anderson arrived, Ayub Bawadi arrived, and Enzo Fernandez is expected to complete the rebuild. Three completely different midfield profiles, who could eventually form one of the most complete units in the Premier League. Maresco is already making the pieces work, before the squad is even completely finished. Take Haaland, opening day was strange by his standards. He struggled to impose himself and finished without scoring. That drought lasted exactly one match. Against Crystal Palace, Haaland scored twice, and gave us another reminder of why he's such an abnormal striker. He didn't need 20 touches, he didn't need to dominate possession, he just needed chances. Haaland finished with an expected goals figure of only around 0.77, attempted just three shots on target, and scored twice. That is what separates Haaland from almost every other striker. He doesn't need to control the game to control the scoreline. Give him one metre, one cross, one transition, and suddenly he is sending the ball into the net. But perhaps the most exciting development under Maresco is happening behind him, because Ryan Chirky is beginning this season like a player who wants to take over English football. In City's opening Premier League match, he produced two assists, then against Crystal Palace, two goals. Not ordinary goals either, two absolute pieces of individual brilliance, so after only two league matches, Chirky already has two goals, and two assists, four direct goal contributions. And then there is Phil Foden. Perhaps one of the biggest questions entering this new era was whether Maresco could recover the version of Foden that looked unstoppable during Guardiola's best years. Against Palace we got a glimpse, two assists, one big chance created, three key passes, three shots, two successful dribbles from four attempts, five ground duels won, three recoveries. Yes, he also missed two big chances, but that's almost encouraging, because the most important thing is that Foden was constantly arriving in positions where something could happen. He looked sharp, he looked agile, he looked involved, and if Maresco can combine that version of Foden with Chirky behind Haaland, suddenly City's attacking rebuild becomes far more dangerous than expected. But the real foundation of this new team might be deeper. Elliot Anderson was arguably City's most important defensive midfielder against Crystal Palace. He won eight duels, completed five tackles, and added three interceptions. Anderson isn't simply a destroyer either, he can press, he can break lines, he can receive in midfield, he can progress possession. He's an all-action midfielder, exactly the type of player required when you lose somebody like Rodri and decide you aren't going to replace him with one identical footballer. That's an important detail. Maresco isn't trying to find another Rodri, he's restructuring the midfield responsibilities. Anderson can provide defensive aggression. Buari can provide control and technical quality. Eventually, Enzo Fernandez can provide progression, passing range and experience controlling possession. Instead of asking one player to become the entire midfield, Maresco can distribute Rodri's responsibilities across several players, and Buari has already shown flashes of why City wanted him. His cameo may have been short, but towards the end of the match, he produced an excellent pass towards Semenya, demonstrating the composure and awareness he can bring from deeper positions. These are small moments, but they're beginning to form a pattern. Maresco is connecting everything together. That's why City's start feels so impressive. Because replacing Guardiola shouldn't look this easy, we're talking about the manager who defined an entire era of English football. The man who created one of the greatest Premier League teams ever, and yet after only two league games under Maresco, City already looks complete, not identical. But dangerous, like a Diet Peps City. Maybe that shouldn't surprise us, because Enzo Maresco has spent practically every important stage of his managerial career, proving that he knows how to build winning teams. At Leicester City, he inherited a club that had just been relegated and immediately took them back to the Premier League, winning the championship with 97 points from 46 matches, 31 victories, 4 draws and 11 defeats. Then came Chelsea. He replaced Mauricio Pochettino and helped transform them into a serious team again. He returned Chelsea to Champions League positions. He won the Conference League. And then came the biggest statement of all. Chelsea became world champions by destroying Luis Enrique's PSG in the Club World Cup final. Maresco showed he could take a talented but chaotic squad and give it structure, and somehow keep Manchester City competing for everything, without allowing the end of one dynasty to become the beginning of a decline. Two matches into the season, we obviously don't have every answer. But we already have one warning, because Enzo Maresco isn't trying to recreate Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. He's building his own, and if the first two matches are any indication, Manchester City may have found the best Guardiola successor they possibly could. Replacing Pep Guardiola at Manchester City was never going to be simple. In fact, in terms of philosophy, identity, trophies and influence over an entire football club, Guardiola's departure can almost be compared to Sir Alex Ferguson leaving Manchester United. And we all know what happened there. Poor sporting decisions, constant managerial changes and a loss of identity sent United into a crisis they have only recently started recovering from. That is exactly the scenario Manchester City need to avoid. Because replacing Guardiola doesn't simply mean replacing a manager, you are replacing numbers that are almost impossible to replicate. Among every manager to have coached more than 50 Premier League matches, Pep Guardiola leaves England with an absurd record. 2.29 points per game, a 71% win rate, 2.40 goals scored per match and only 0.85 conceded per game. Those aren't normal statistics, those are dynasty numbers. Guardiola arrived in Manchester in 2016 and practically turned the Across 10 seasons, he won 6 league titles, while finishing 2nd twice and 3rd twice. Then add 5 league cups, 3 FA Cups, 3 Community Shields, 1 Champions League, 1 UEFA Super Cup and 1 Club World Cup. Pep didn't simply create a great Manchester City, he created the greatest period in the club's history and now Enzo Maresca has to continue that legacy. The interesting thing is that Maresca doesn't arrive without winning experience himself. At Chelsea, he managed 92 matches, winning 55, drawing 16 and losing 21, while delivering both the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup. But perhaps the greatest advantage Maresca has is something Guardiola already started preparing before leaving. The generational transition. Most of the players who formed the historic, treble-winning Manchester City have already moved on, outside of players like Vardyol, Ruben Dias, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish. Much of that team has changed, so Maresca isn't walking into Guardiola's ageing squad and being asked to preserve something that is already disappearing. He's inheriting a new generation that already understands many of City's footballing principles. And that is important because, tactically, Maresca is very Pep. Nobody completely replicates Guardiola's football, but when you analyse Maresca's 18 months at Chelsea, his team was probably one of the closest in England to Guardiola's slower, possession-heavy positional football. And interestingly, both managers evolved in a similar direction. Neither remained obsessed with keeping possession simply for the sake of it. Their teams increasingly became more direct, incisive and dangerous in transition. Under Maresca at Chelsea, one of the main concepts was creating overloads across different areas of the pitch. Sometimes the full-backs moved centrally, sometimes midfielders rotated towards the outside, sometimes the entire structure shifted simply to create a free man elsewhere. And we're already seeing exactly that at Manchester City. Look at the victory against Crystal Palace. Guardiola's positioning constantly created overloads Palace couldn't solve. When City defended, Guardiola could drop back and help form a three-man defensive line. But once City had possession, he moved forward and almost became another midfielder. That hybrid role was extremely important because it constantly changed the numerical balance in midfield. But Guardiola wasn't the only one. There were moments where Kusanov pushed forward almost like an interior midfielder, while Elliot Anderson and Guehi formed what effectively looked like the base of Maresca's double pivot in a 4-2-3-1. And that structure was clearly visible in Haaland's first goal. And immediately, space appears for the left-sided centre-back, the winger, or the advancing midfielder to receive with more freedom. It looks simple, but the movement is designed to manipulate the first line of pressure. And that's the key to Maresca's football. Move one opponent to free another team-mate. His system also gives certain midfielders enormous positional freedom. Against Crystal Palace, Cherky naturally had a huge influence in attacking areas. But what made the structure more interesting was how frequently Guardiola and Nico O'Reilly joined the attack. There were moments where O'Reilly practically became another attacking midfielder next to Cherky. Then Foden would drop deeper, O'Reilly would move towards the right, Cherky would drift inside, and suddenly the opposition wasn't defending fixed positions anymore. They were defending constant rotations. That became even clearer in City's third goal. Look at the shape. The back line is practically formed by Kusanov remains wider, and then Guardiola makes the movement inside. That run immediately creates the passing lane towards Cherky. Cherky receives, turns, and scores from distance. That goal explains why Maresca's wingers are so important. Because when the wingers stay high and wide, they stretch the opposition's defensive line. And the wider the defence becomes, the larger the spaces become inside. If the opposition full-back stays wide to protect against City's winger, Cherky or Foden can attack the half-space. City can simply isolate the one-versus-one. But there is another Maresca principle that could become just as important. Man-oriented pressing. We saw it very clearly with Chelsea, especially in the Club World Cup final against PSG. Chelsea repeatedly pressed individual passing options aggressively, forcing PSG into rushed decisions, and creating turnovers that immediately became attacking transitions. That kind of pressure can destroy teams. But it comes with a cost. Energy. A lot of energy. Because man-oriented pressing asks players to constantly jump forward, track opponents, recover position, and then immediately attack once possession is won. That means Maresca needs midfield depth. And right now, that's where the question remains. But Manchester City absolutely have the quality to win the Premier League. Just look at the squad Enzo Maresca has at his disposal. Haaland. Cherky. Foden. Elliot Anderson. Bawadi. And now Cody Gakpo. And perhaps the player who can benefit most from this structure is Ryan Cherky. Against Bournemouth, City were losing 1-0 when Maresca introduced him from the bench. And almost immediately you could understand why Cherky can become so important. He received the ball with three players in front of him, seemingly with no obvious passing lane available, but through pure technique he manipulated the space and created an opportunity for Haaland. Then, after providing the corner assist for City's equaliser, Cherky appeared again, this time he received between four Bournemouth players. He turned centrally, realised the route towards goal was blocked, adjusted his body again and found Gvardiol arriving outside him. Assist. Winning goal. That's Cherky. He isn't always going to follow every positional instruction perfectly. Sometimes his football almost depends on breaking the rules. But that's exactly what makes him valuable. When the system can't solve the problem, Cherky can improvise. Against Crystal Palace, we saw the same quality when he scored City's second goal. Surrounded by defenders inside a congested area, he somehow created enough separation to finish. That's how you unlock low blocks. And if Cherky provides the magic, Elliot Anderson provides control. Anderson's challenge isn't simply reproducing what he did at Nottingham Forest. Maresca now needs him to take those same qualities and apply them inside a much more structured positional system. At Forest, Anderson's pressing wasn't based on chasing everything that moved. It was intelligent aggression. He knew when to jump, when to hold, when to close the passing lane instead of attacking the ball. That translated to 60 direct defensive pressures at the 2026 World Cup. Second most of any player in the tournament. Across the 2025-26 season, he contested 411 defensive duels, won 64.5% of them and registered 233 interceptions. At the World Cup, Anderson was also the fifth highest player for off-ball movements to become available as a passing option. That is exactly why Maresca can use him in so many different ways. He can help him build up. He can initiate the press. He can counter-press after possession is lost. And when space opens, he can attack the box from the second line. That makes him almost the ideal modern midfielder. Then there is Ayoub Bouhdi. Bouhdi is much closer to being a stabiliser, control midfielder. A player whose job is to connect defence with midfield, help possession progress safely and recognise the moment where a vertical pass can eliminate an opposition line. There are obvious similarities with some of the responsibilities Rodri used to have. And that gives Maresca an interesting partnership. Bouhdi can remain closer to the defensive line, giving City protection against transitions. Anderson can then receive slightly higher, press more aggressively and arrive closer to the penalty area. Against Crystal Palace, Bouhdi didn't start because he's still learning Maresca's system. That's part of the reason Mark Gahy has been used around the double pivot in these opening matches. But as Bouhdi adapts, that can change quickly. And then, in front of all of them, Erling Haaland. Two goals against Crystal Palace reminded us exactly why he's still the best pure striker in world football. That's why the key for Maresca isn't changing Haaland. It's feeding him correctly. Two goals in two matches obviously isn't enough to tell us what his whole season will look like. But it tells us one thing. Haaland remains the final weapon. And then there is perhaps the most exciting comeback in this entire team. Phil Foden. Remember 20-23-24. 27 goals and 13 assists. That version of Foden was almost impossible to contain because you never knew what he was going to do next. And through City's games this season, we are beginning to see flashes of him again. Look at this transition. Haaland gives Foden the ball around the edge of the box. The pass is slightly behind him, but instead of killing the attack, Foden adjusts instantly and produces a through ball into Lewis Skelly's run. It doesn't end in a goal, but that action matters. Because it shows that Foden is thinking forward again. Then in the match against Crystal Palace, Foden drove towards the penalty area, attracted defenders, and waited for exactly the right moment. Then he released Haaland into space. Goal. That is peak Foden. Carry to attract pressure. Release at the perfect moment. And when you put all five of these players together, the structure becomes frightening. Cherky gives you unpredictability. Foden gives you technique and combination play. Haaland gives you finishing. Anderson gives you aggression and verticality. Bouadi gives you control. But Maresca has even more. Because Kody Gakpo has just arrived. And honestly, Gakpo remains one of the most underrated forwards in the Premier League. When he plays inside a functioning system, his profile is incredibly useful. He's quick. He's physically strong. He can attack transitions. And operate in tight spaces. And he has a genuinely dangerous shot from medium and long range. In 20-24-25, he produced 18 goals and 7 assists in a Liverpool side that actually functioned collectively. His level dropped afterwards, but so did the entire structure around him under slot. And at Manchester City, Maresca doesn't need Gakpo to become the main star. Because he can operate in several attacking roles, Maresca can maintain the intensity of the attack without completely changing its structure. That's enormously important over an entire season. And we're still not done. Because Enzo Fernandes is also expected to arrive. Now imagine the midfield combinations. Enzo. Anderson. Bouadi. Behind Cherky and Foden. With Haaland occupying the centre backs. And explosive wingers stretching the pitch. That gives City almost every possible solution. That is why this Manchester City could become so difficult to defend. Maresca has inherited a squad full of players who solve completely different problems. And that might be the biggest reason this transition away from Guardiola has looked much smoother than expected. It's a Manchester City already constructing the next Premier League title.