Manchester City ended their Asia Tour on a winning note on Sunday, beating Atletico Madrid 3-1 in a match that offered the clearest evidence yet of what Enzo Maresca wants from his squad heading into his first full season at the Etihad Stadium.
The Italian, who succeeded Pep Guardiola as head coach this summer, saw his side come from behind to see off Atletico. Omar Marmoush scored twice after Antoine Semenyo supplied both assists. Rayan Ait-Nouri added a third after coming on for Semenyo, while Savinho also caused problems down the opposite flank throughout the contest.
For Maresca, the victory rounded off a productive pre-season trip to Hong Kong and South Korea, one defined largely by the impact of his wide players.
Semenyo alone finished the three-game tour with four assists, underlining just how central width and one-on-one threat have become to the new manager’s early tactical identity.
‘You need a player who can create unbalance’
Speaking after full-time, Maresca made clear that wide creativity is now a non-negotiable part of his approach, even if he stopped short of naming individual profiles.
“But for sure you need a player out wide who can create unbalance, especially when they go one v one,” he said according to club official website
It is a demand that appears to be finding early answers within his current squad. Semenyo, Savinho and Ait-Nouri all offered variations of that threat against Atletico, giving Maresca options as he fine-tunes his side before the Premier League campaign begins.
Encouraged as he was by the width on show, Maresca was careful to temper the praise, pointing instead to conversion as the area still requiring work.
“I think [wingers] can play well, but the end product is the most important thing,” he said, before adding that City had been left frustrated by their finishing in the first half despite carving out several chances.
“I think the first half was a bit unfair — we created four, five chances. But the difference was inside the box. We didn’t score. The big difference was there.”
That message, he said, was delivered clearly during the interval, and the response pleased him.
“We could not create the amount of situations we did and not finish the action,” Maresca added.
“There we need to be clinical — it’s something we need to improve. Slowly we are getting there and with Erling [Haaland] we can be even more dangerous.”
Marmoush’s double was a rare bright spot in front of goal on the night, and Maresca was quick to acknowledge it.
“Today Omar scored twice — this is a boost — and yes I am happy with that,” he said.
Squad buying into new ideas
Beyond the result and the performance, Maresca reserved some of his warmest praise for the way his players have responded to a change in style following Guardiola’s departure.
Three games into his tenure, he says the group has shown an openness that has made the transition smoother than he might have expected.
“I’m very happy. Especially because the players since we started have been open-minded,” Maresca said.
“They want to understand and want to learn why we do things. I know that when you join a new club you try to install new patterns or different ideas, the most important thing is we are getting better.
“But the path is a huge path to improve things. But I can see we are trying what we do in training, and we are getting better at that.”
With pre-season now complete, attention turns to the sharper demands of competitive football.
