"Maresca is the real deal" | Carra, Keane, Richards & Sturridge assess Maresca's start at Man City
Maresca is the real deal: Sky Sports panel assesses his start at Man City
The video discusses Enzo Maresca's early spell at Man City after replacing Pep Guardiola. The panel praises his elite credentials, media handling and ability to get the squad buying in, while cautioning that it is too early to judge his changes and questioning the defensive reliability of a player given more freedom.
- Maresca is the real deal and can cope at the elite level; his start at Man City has been fantastic — They cite his Chelsea spell, the performance at Anfield against Liverpool, the Club World Cup display against PSG, his tactical setup and his calm handling of the media.
- Maresca has done terrifically to get a strong squad to buy into his ideas, and winning has helped his media situation — They say the early season was not great while his ideas were being bedded in, but six wins in a row have built confidence and execution.
- It is too early to judge how much Maresca has changed Man City; they should improve as chemistry develops — There are new players and a strong start, but it takes time to imprint his style, and he has given the team confidence while drip-feeding information.
- Maresca's setup is not much different from his Chelsea approach and is more direct than Guardiola's, but the midfield can be exposed to counters — A fullback steps into midfield, as O'Reilly did, and City have better players; however, they can leave a midfielder isolated and get counterattacked.
- Maresca has given a certain attacking player real freedom to be a maverick and influence games with his creativity — The player is affecting the stats sheet more consistently and dominating games creatively, compared with City's previous system-driven approach.
- That player's defensive reliability in big games is still questionable and must improve if he is to be considered one of the best — He is neither a defensive No.10 nor a luxury player, but against elite possession teams who control central areas, his defensive trustworthiness is the issue.
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Transcript
James joined us as well. He appears [clears throat] to be handling everything very well, doesn't he? >> Yeah, I'm a big fan. I go back to his time at Chelsea. I remember him coming to Anfield the season Liverpool won the league under slot and they completely outplayed Liverpool that day. Chelsea, Liverpool won the game, but it always stuck in my mind and he got that move from Leicester. So, you think going from the Championship to one of the biggest clubs in the country and Chelsea, can can he handle that? And I've always felt he could handle himself up against the Liverpool manager at the time, slot, Pep Guardiola in terms of tactic, how they set up. And if you go back to probably what his his best game was for Chelsea, Paris Sanjiman in the club World Cup, whatever you think about it, Paris Sanjiman were the best team in the world or are the best team in the world. They battered them in that game. I think they won 3-0 in the final. So, I've always felt he can he can cope at elite level and the start he's made at Manchester City uh is fantastic. But I can't say I'm massively surprised when I'm just thinking about the manager as well because I think he he's top notch and also when you think about how he handled himself in the press conference coming into this game absolutely >> didn't seem flustered a lot of questions there the world's media there as well so he uh yeah I think he's the real deal >> that's a huge part to modern management isn't it obviously you got to be tactically good you got to be good with the media >> yeah is that's a big strength for him >> but he's also I mean on the one hand trying to separate the two stories here on the other hand it's quite difficult he's handled the story off the field very well. Let's all forget he's coming in and replaced Pep Guardiola at the the at the start of this season as well. >> Yeah, but I think he would admit um that time, especially at the start of the season, it wasn't playing great, but he was betting his ideas in and then six on the bounce. Now you got you're full of confidence, aren't you? And I think that's the the difference. I think Jame's [snorts] exactly right. Trying to deal with the media stuff is is always difficult, but it helps when you're winning games. And when you win games like the way that they do, yes, he's got a great squad, but getting them all to buy into what he wants to do, I think he's done it terrifically well. >> When you when you watch what he's done, how much do you think he I mean, obviously they they've got new personnel and they brought a lot of players in in the summer. How much do you think he has altered things? >> We'll see in the long run. >> Yeah. >> I think it's difficult to say now. Um, but they they're off to a great start, aren't they? And I think as time goes on, we'll really see him imprint his style onto them, but it's going to take a while. I just think it's surprising how well they've done at the start, like six and and they they look like they're only going to get better once the players chemistry starts to and you know, like, okay, my mate's going to be there and you know, that's what football's built on really. It's built on chemistry and trusting your teammates. So he seems as if he's given them a lot of confidence, you know, drip feeding information into them, but I think over time they they'll get better. >> He's not doing that much differently than what he did at Chelsea in terms of how they set up. Certainly when they're on the ball, they have sort of a boxing midfield, one of the fullbacks goes into that position. We've seen Nikico O'Reilly do that today, but he's got a better quality of player at Manchester City. I think for Manchester City, we didn't see it too often today, but I think there has been times this season maybe where you could say Elliot Anderson's left isolated at times and they can get counterattacked. And have they got PSG midweek? >> They have. Yeah. Wednesday, aren't you? >> So, that'd be an interest that'd be a great game to watch. Uh, but that's probably the one little flaw you look at them early on the season, but as I said, he's still betting his idea in, but his idea and his setup and the system isn't too dissimilar to say maybe they're a little bit more direct as well. You know how Pepe used to circulate the ball when they got to that final third. I think they want to go a little bit quicker. And that's why I was I was saying at Halime with Semeno, he had so many opportunities to go out, but he kept coming back. It was almost like he was still programmed to what Pep wanted to do. You bring on Daku and yes, the red card changed the game. But in terms of how City wanted to approach the game, he definitely make a difference in terms of the intensity and running out of Rahul. I I would say >> well you said Doc who changed the game didn't you at the end of the game because you you'd call for that at halftime didn't you? [laughter] >> Welcome to our afternoon in here Jeremy to be honest [laughter] I say for me the one thing that stands out more than anything is Turkey and I think the the real freedom that he's kind of given now he's almost like that guy where give him the ball and make him do something. And I think a lot of teams that are great, they have those types of guys sometimes where it's kind of like typically speaking, City have been a great team. They've got like a system. Listen, you you know Kyle Walker said you don't control the ball, you let it roll out, you do this, you do that and it's more of like a system type of thing where I think it seems now where you've almost got a maverick in Turkey and it's like go out there, make stuff happen and you can see on the stat sheet he's affecting it a lot more a lot more consistently. He seems as if he's dominating games with with his creativity. >> Um, >> you never felt Pep trusted him that much, do you? Do you think this way? >> I don't I don't think in this way because I think Pep's way worked. >> I think now it's kind of like again a manager walks in the door, it's a new lease of life. Can I show him something in preseason that might make him give me a bit more freedom? You know, with with Slot for instance with Salah and it's kind of like, okay, look, Gaffa, give me a little bit less defensive work and I'll give you the numbers. And that's what he did in that season and they won the Premier League. And I think with Turkey now we're seeing more freedom a little bit less defensively he he causes a problem in a sense because he's not a number 10. He's not he's not sorry he's not a defensive hardworking number 10 in a sense and he's not a luxury player either. I think he's a really top player. I just think against the best teams who can keep the ball in those central areas. I wonder how consistent Turkey will play in those games because when you're coming up against in the week, you know, and you've got Vitine, you're popping it around the corners and Neves and things like that, you sort of look and go, okay, defensively in those big big games when you you're coming up against those teams, are can you be trusted defensively? And I think that's where his game has to evolve if he wants to be considered one of the best players in the