HandofCity

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So Maresca wants Anderson to play both as a 6 and an 8 so that Enzo Fernandez can be chilling in the right-half space. Dumb tactics.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" 💔

Manchester City’s recruitment post treble season has been deeply disappointing. The problem is not limited to the players we have signed, but also extends to the manager chosen to succeed one of the greatest of all time. In Pep’s final season he had clearly identified a path forward similar to PSG’s, built around full-backs who bomb up and down the pitch. That idea was behind the signing of Aït-Nouri and the regular use of Nunes at right-back. The club must take responsibility for appointing a manager who has shown no desire to continue the tactical direction Pep was developing. In yesterday’s game Maresca left both Nunes and O’Reilly on the bench while Aït-Nouri failed to make the squad, preferring instead to invert with centre-backs.

The problem isn’t just Enzo Fernández’s lack of work off-the-ball. Haaland, Cherki, Enzo and Doku are all liabilities out-of-possession. Playing them together produces chaos. The goalkeeper’s poor distribution only makes the situation worse.

Enzo Maresca is already asking for more time after just three or four months, saying he still needs to understand the players and they need to understand him. That is effectively an admission that he cannot quickly assess clear tactical mismatches. You do not need months to see that Cherki and Enzo Fernández lack the right balance together, that Gvardiol in the left half-space is a liability, or that Khusanov at right-back has not worked. He might be one of the quickest Manchester City managers to get sacked.

“You don’t have to prove anything…we know how good you” So this was all fake 💔💔💔

Funny how Manchester City’s early-season wins were written off as irrelevant because of the 114 verdict, until they started losing. Suddenly the results count again.

Serious conversations need to be had

I hear it gets worse in December. Brace yourself. Winter is coming 🥶

Maybe they saw the sanctions coming and decided to lock in a championship manager. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.

So Matheus Nunes wasn’t injured or anything, you just decided to bench him. Now that your experiment has blown up in your face, you’ve brought him on. There has to be a special place in hell reserved for Enzo Maresca.

Every cloud has a silver-lining. Those dogs are where they belong.

Down by two and somehow my center-back is leading the line with Erling Haaland 😂😂😂 Wow Enzo Maresca, tactical genius. Square pegs, round holes.

This is the same Oliver Glasner who broke down Pep Guardiola’s tactics in 15 seconds — and that bald guy still chose to be arrogant against him 😂😂😂

As much as people want to blame Gvardiol for the first goal, the real issue is why a centre-back is being asked to drop into midfield and receive under pressure when there’s a proper press-resistant midfielder sitting on the bench. Why aren’t we simply playing people in their positions?