Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League after a thrilling 5-3 win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium, but new head coach Enzo Maresca made it clear afterwards that the result papered over cracks he intends to fix.
The victory kept City’s perfect start to the season intact, with five wins from five matches, but it came the hard way. Newly promoted Sunderland twice fought back to level the scores before City eventually pulled clear, with Brian Brobbey’s hat-trick for the visitors a reminder of how costly City’s defending could prove against stronger opposition.
Antoine Semenyo struck twice for the hosts, while Enzo Fernandez and Rayan Cherki were also on the scoresheet as City’s attacking talent shone through. Yet it was the manner of Sunderland’s three goals that dominated Maresca’s post-match thoughts rather than his side’s five.
According to the club’s official website, Maresca did not hide his frustration when asked to assess the game.
“Two of the three goals we conceded were too easy; the second goal came from [Granit] Xhaka’s quick free-kick and that cannot happen. The third goal came from another free-kick. Too easy, we conceded more chances, but we also scored five and could have scored probably two or three more,” he said.
Maresca demands sharper focus from his back line
For a manager who has built his early reputation at City on organisation as much as attacking football, the concession of three goals — two of them from set-pieces he felt were entirely avoidable — clearly rankled more than the five City scored pleased him.
Xhaka’s quickly taken free-kick, in particular, caught City’s defence unprepared, and Maresca’s pointed reference to it suggested he sees a lack of concentration rather than bad luck behind the goal.
It is a theme Maresca has returned to since succeeding Pep Guardiola in the summer, as he looks to stamp his own defensive principles on a squad that spent a decade working under one of the most meticulous coaches in the game.
Eight weeks into his reign, the head coach has repeatedly stressed that City are still adapting to new patterns of play, and Saturday’s match offered fresh evidence of both the promise and the growing pains involved in that transition.
City had led on more than one occasion during the afternoon, only for Sunderland — appearing full of confidence in only their fifth top-flight match back among the elite — to claw their way level.
Brobbey’s treble underlined the threat the Dutch forward posed throughout, exploiting exactly the kind of gaps and slack moments that so irritated Maresca afterwards.
Despite the frustration, there was no doubting City’s attacking quality. Semenyo continued his impressive early-season form, while contributions from Fernandez and Cherki showed the attacking talent Maresca has at his disposal remains a considerable weapon, even as he works to tighten things up at the other end.
The result leaves City sitting pretty at the summit of the table, with the international break now offering Maresca a rare window to work on the issues that troubled him most.
