Maresca rejects system criticism after Manchester City's third straight Premier League defeat

Enzo Maresca refused to accept that Manchester City’s tactical shape was to blame for a 3-1 Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, their third consecutive loss in the competition that has left them six points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

The City manager was visibly frustrated after individual errors gifted Forest a 2-0 lead inside 19 minutes, and he was equally firm in his post-match press conference when pushed on whether the system had exposed his players. Asked specifically whether too much had been demanded of Elliot Anderson in midfield, Maresca was direct: “No. I think you concede transitions when you lose the ball like the first goal, and you concede transitions when you don’t win duels.”

He returned to that theme repeatedly when pressed on whether the volume of individual mistakes pointed to a structural problem. “When you lose balls in the way we lost the first goal, or when we were attacking and then when we lose the ball we were not able to win duels or the second ball to recover immediately, it’s not a matter for three or four. It’s about winning duels. That is the first thing you have to do in these kind of games.”

Maresca noted that the second and third goals were near-identical in origin. “The second and third goal that we conceded in transition are copy and paste. The second one we lost the duels in the middle of the pitch and the third one we lost the duel on the edge of their box. From there, if you make a mistake or don’t win duels, you can concede transitions.”

He was candid about the damage done in the opening 45 minutes, acknowledging that City never matched Forest’s intensity before the interval. “The first half we were not good enough. We didn’t match the intensity that these kind of games require. We conceded one, we conceded two, then we tried to react. But most of the time in football when you are 2-0 down it is too late.”

City improved after the break, pulling a goal back and creating further chances, but were caught on the counter again to concede a third. Maresca identified the attempted second-half comeback itself as the root cause of the final scoreline. “For me the big mistake has been that we tried to react after we conceded two goals, and in football most of the time that is too late.”

The defeat is a sharp reversal for a side that opened the Premier League season with seven consecutive wins. City now face mounting pressure to arrest the slide before the gap to the top further widens.