One of Enzo Maresca’s tactical decisions is causing Manchester City major problems

One of Enzo Maresca’s tactical decisions is causing Manchester City major problems Manchester City fell to their third consecutive defeat in the Premier League as they were beaten 3-1 by Nottingham Forest at The City Ground today. Enzo Maresca’s side gave away two goals in the opening 18 minutes as Jair Cunha and Liam Delap profited from a mistake by Josko Gvardiol and then exploited a clear frailty in this City side for their second. Enzo Maresca’s side are far too open in midfield, which was exposed today. The midfield that Enzo Maresca selects is an issue, but you do sense that another tactical decision by Maresca is feeding into that problem in a major way. The Manchester City full-backs are pushing too far forward and leaving the City defence and midfield exposed. There is a clear issue when Rayan Cherki, Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson start in midfield for Manchester City. Elliot Anderson is left with too much ground to cover as the holding midfielder in City’s system. Also, it is debatable that Anderson should he played as a number six in the first place. However, there does seem to be another clear issue in Maresca’s system which is further exposing Manchester City’s midfield. Enzo Maresca started Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back and Josko Gvardiol at left-back against Nottingham Forest. When City had possession, the pair would invert into midfield and push forward. In theory, that should work well enough. The reality is a completely different story. How Enzo Maresca uses his full-backs has been a constant this season. There were at least three occasions in the first half of City’s loss to Nottingham Forest that Khusanov and Gvardiol were caught too far up the pitch and couldn’t get back defensively. Jair Cunha’s sixth-minute goal came from Gvardiol giving away possession and Liam Delap profited twelve minutes later on the break against an exposed City defence. Far too often the Manchester City centre-backs, and Elliot Anderson are left exposed with too much work to do. You can blame individual mistakes or players losing duels. But at this point, Enzo Maresca’s use of his full-backs is also causing his team an issue and it is exposing a major flaw in his team. Manchester City’s full-back issue is also laying bare the flaws in the Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Rayan Cherki midfield trio. Another clear and obvious issue that Enzo Maresca refuses to change is that Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson, and Rayan Cherki start in midfield. For now, they are Maresca’s preferred midfield. There are obvious issues with this trio. Cherki and Enzo Fernandez do not work back when possession is lost. It isn’t a strength of their play. Far too often Cherki and Enzo Fernandez leave Elliot Anderson with a mountain of defensive work to do. Adding inverted attacking full-backs to the equation simply creates a crater in the middle of the pitch for Manchester City’s opponents to exploit. Routinely, City’s opponents drive through this gap. It simply must be tightened up or Enzo Maresca’s side will continue to be involved in basketball matches. Also, if the City player make errors in midfield or give away possession their defence and midfield is woefully exposed. You do wonder if Enzo Maresca’s system is a contributing factor to the plethora of errors that have led to goals. The players are at fault for their errors. But perhaps the fact that they know that if they make an error it will likely end in a sweeping counterattack or a goal is playing into this issue. Final thoughts. Enzo Maresca and his team have a mountain of work to do at the moment. Manchester City have lost three consecutive matches in the Premier League which lays bare that there are clear issues to iron out. However, a lot of these issues have been ever-present this season. One such issue is the gaping wound left in the middle of the pitch that is left for Manchester City’s opponents to play through. Starting Rayan Cherki and Enzo Fernandez with Elliot Anderson leads to this to a degree. However, adding two attacking inverted full-backs to the equation is further exposing this clear issue. If Cherki and Enzo Fernandez are to start with Anderson, City need cover at the back. They cannot have both of their full-backs playing advanced attacking role helping to create a bigger void at the back. Nottingham Forest ruthlessly profited from this gap today to their credit. However, they weren’t the first Manchester City opponent to do so. They won’t be the last unless balance is restored to Enzo Maresca’s system. Perhaps not using two attacking inverted full-backs on top of an attacking midfield may help alleviate some of Manchester City’s clear issues on the pitch.