After a 3-0 thrashing by Arsenal in the Community Shield, many were quick to write off Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City. The heavy defeat in the traditional season curtain-raiser raised immediate questions about life after Pep Guardiola and whether the Italian was ready for one of football’s most demanding jobs.
City have answered those doubts emphatically. Maresca’s side have responded with five straight wins in all competitions, including a gritty start to their Premier League campaign and a solid Champions League victory away at Porto.
Most impressively, they produced a resilient 1-0 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United despite playing more than an hour with ten men after Phil Foden’s red card.
That sequence of results has lifted City into the early title conversation alongside Arsenal, yet there remains a sense that the champions-elect narrative is still heavily focused on the Gunners. Maresca inherited a squad undergoing significant change, and the early evidence suggests the new manager is implementing his ideas effectively while maintaining City’s competitive edge.
The Community Shield result may have created a false impression of vulnerability. Since then, City have shown organisation, character and quality. With Erling Haaland continuing to score and new faces settling quickly, Maresca’s side look far more formidable than the early critics suggested.
Whether they can sustain this form remains to be seen, but writing them off after one pre-season setback already looks premature. City under Maresca are very much in the title race.
