Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City have begun life after Pep Guardiola with four wins from four Premier League fixtures, and the Italian has made an awkward inheritance look remarkably settled.
Key takeaways
- City are level on points with Arsenal, who lead the early table on goal difference.
- A 1-0 derby win at Manchester United came despite Phil Foden’s 23rd-minute dismissal.
- Erling Haaland scored the decisive goal, although City’s winner was widely viewed as one that ought not to have stood.
- Maresca’s half-time change, bringing on Iliman Ndiaye for Rayan Cherki, helped City see out the match.
- The new manager has introduced loud house music at training in an effort to lift the mood and performance levels.
A composed start in a demanding job
When Maresca took the City job in July, replacing Guardiola looked about as forgiving as taking the last seat on a crowded train. Four league matches later, City have a perfect return and are already being placed alongside Arsenal as the likely central rivalry in the title race.
The most testing evidence of that early composure arrived at Old Trafford on Sunday. City had Foden sent off with a straight red after 23 minutes, yet held on for a derby victory secured by Haaland. The Norwegian’s strike proved controversial, with the goal considered one that should have been ruled out, but City still had to manage a long afternoon with a man fewer.
Maresca did not allow the touchline to become a theatre of panic. He initially used Cherki on the right before replacing him at the interval with Ndiaye, a switch that gave the visitors greater balance as they protected their lead.
It was a more measured response than one from his Chelsea spell a year earlier. In a match against Manchester United, goalkeeper Robert Sánchez was dismissed in the fifth minute, prompting Maresca to make two substitutions inside the opening seven minutes as he moved to a five-man defence. Chelsea lost that game 2-1.
After the latest win, Maresca offered a lighter explanation for the value of a contented centre-forward: “Happy wife, happy life; for us, happy Erling, happy life.” The relaxed press-room manner has matched his calm in the technical area.
New noise, familiar foundations
There have been visible changes at the Etihad. Maresca has had house music played at high volume during training, described by the manager in suitably basic terms as “boom, boom, boom”. The intention is straightforward: players who feel happier should, he believes, perform better.
Yet City’s new captain, Ruben Dias, has stressed that the club have not torn up the old blueprint. Maresca has brought his own work into sessions, pressing patterns and defensive details, Dias said, but the broader playing identity remains recognisably City.
“There are many aspects, from training sessions to the finer points of pressing and defending, that belong to Enzo,” Dias explained. “But there is continuity in how we play. Certain details make it different, though it is still very close to the way this club has always worked.”
The strong opening has extended into Europe, where City won their first Champions League match of the campaign 2-0 away to Porto on the 8th. Maresca had already insisted during pre-season that following Guardiola was not a burden, calling it both a challenge and a privilege.
The campaign has much further to run, and four league rounds do not decide a title. But City’s post-Guardiola era has opened with the points, the poise and, apparently, a rather loud soundtrack.
SEO Title: Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City start strongly after Guardiola
SEO Description: Enzo Maresca has led Manchester City to four Premier League wins from four, including a resilient derby victory over Manchester United.
