Maresca says Manchester City are making progress with pressing system

Enzo Maresca believes Manchester City are close to mastering his tactical approach after their encouraging start to the Premier League season.

City came from behind to beat Bournemouth 2-1 in their opening league match last week, with Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol scoring after Marcus Tavernier had given the visitors the lead.

Although Maresca’s side conceded first, the manager was pleased with how effectively his players applied his instructions, particularly when pressing without the ball.

“I think we are quite close,” Maresca said at his pre-match press conference.

“Against Bournemouth, in terms of pressing, we recovered 76 per cent of the ball. That is a fantastic result.

“It happens that once or twice you don’t recover the ball and they create two chances. It’s normal – it’s football.

“I think the players are understanding the way we want to defend and press.”

The Italian accepts that no team can dictate every passage of a match, but believes the figures from the Bournemouth game demonstrate that City are moving in the right direction.

“It’s football, in the end you can’t control everything,” he said.

“But it’s much better if you can recover 76 per cent of the ball rather than 50 per cent.

“It means you give less chances to the opposition. But again, you cannot control everything. It can happen at set pieces or at any moment.”

Maresca took charge during a summer of significant change in European football. He has been introducing his methods while also managing arrivals and departures within the squad, alongside the disruption created by the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The unusual schedule has meant that several players joined the group late, while transfer business has continued to influence his plans. Guehi was deployed in midfield against Bournemouth as Maresca adapted to the circumstances.

“It’s complicated because you want to start new things and new concepts with a new manager, even if there are similarities with the previous one,” he said.

“At the end, all managers and all players are different. It has been a little bit complicated because some players arrive late and now with transfers.

“That’s why Marc Guehi in midfield was a solution and tomorrow there might be another solution.

“It’s my duty and my job to find a solution and try to help the players to win games. In the end, they are the ones on the pitch to try to win the game.”

The manager also outlined his preferred squad structure, saying he would ideally have two players competing for every position while retaining opportunities for academy prospects.

“I think probably the right idea is to have two players in each position. They need to compete between them,” he said.

“The standard is higher when they can compete for every game. So for me the ideal situation is to have two players in each position.

“At the moment we have 21 or 22 players and that can be the right number.

“But we have three or four academy players in this number, and thinking we are playing 60, maybe 65 games this season, we probably need more numbers.”

Manchester City’s next match will provide their first away test of the Premier League campaign. They travel to Selhurst Park on Friday night to face Crystal Palace.

Elsewhere, Danny Welbeck scored as Chelsea eased past Luton in the Carabao Cup.