Tony Cascarino says City’s players are failing to cope with adversity after a third straight Premier League defeat left Enzo Maresca’s rebuilt side in disarray.
Manchester City’s miserable run of form shows no sign of abating after a shock 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. The result is the clearest evidence yet that Enzo Maresca’s project at the Etihad is hitting serious turbulence.
Having won their opening seven league games of the campaign, City have now lost at Brighton, Aston Villa and, most alarmingly, at a Forest side that began the weekend second-bottom of the table.
Jair Cunha dispossessed Josko Gvardiol inside six minutes to open the scoring, before Liam Delap, rediscovering the confidence that deserted him during a difficult spell at Chelsea, struck twice either side of a Rayan Cherki leveller to complete a stunning turnaround for Oliver Glasner’s side.
‘A real lack of belief among City players’ – Cascarino
Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino believes the problems run deeper than individual mistakes.
Speaking on the Weekend Sports Breakfast, he argued that Maresca’s half-time double substitution — withdrawing both Gvardiol and Marc Guéhi, who were later confirmed to have picked up knocks — spoke volumes about where the manager’s frustration lies.
And it’s quite clear that when a manager makes two substitutions after 45 minutes, [Josko] Gvardiol and also Marc Guehi, who have come off at 46 minutes, he’s pointing the finger totally at them.
“Now, for the first goal, I don’t think Marc Guehi’s ball is a great one into Gvardiol. And when he loses the ball, you’d expect a player of City’s quality to be able to handle that situation.”
Cascarino was particularly scathing of City’s defending as a collective, pointing out that Rúben Dias could not be excused either, and concluding starkly that there’s a real lack of belief running through the squad.
“They defended awfully. They were awful yesterday defensively. And I’m not excluding [Ruben] Dias out of this as well. Didn’t play well.
“And there were others. And they look like a team to me that there’s a real lack of belief.”
That assessment will sting given the scale of Manchester City‘s defensive breakdown. Guéhi’s positioning for Delap’s opener left what Cascarino’s analysis suggests was a gaping channel between himself and Dias.
Delap was allowed to surge unchallenged between the two centre-backs for the second time in the match.
Maresca left to pick up the pieces
Maresca has endured a bruising introduction to life after one of the greatest managerial reigns in English football.
According to the Guardian’s report from the City Ground, the Italian pointed to his side’s lack of desire and their inability to win individual duels as the key factors behind the collapse.
It is a curious pattern for a manager renowned for his obsession with control and structure, whose teams at Leicester, Chelsea and now City have nonetheless shown a recurring vulnerability to direct, committed opposition.
Forest, previously toothless in front of goal despite reportedly outperforming their underlying numbers for much of the season, were ruthless in exploiting exactly those gaps.
City did have their moments. Jérémy Doku struck the woodwork via a deflection shortly after Cunha’s opener, and Cherki’s thumping half-volley seven minutes into the second half briefly suggested a response was under way.
But Forest, roared on at the City Ground, refused to be shaken, with Morgan Gibbs-White teeing up Delap’s second to settle the contest.
