Enzo Maresca got out-thought by Nottingham Forest on Saturday, by a team that had scored almost nothing all season, at a stadium where the home side hadn't managed a single goal in their previous league games there. His setup has become so readable that even a struggling Forest side worked out how to carve it open inside six minutes.
⚡ Big upset:Nottingham Forest had a 19% chance before kickoff and beat Man City 3–1.
19%
The quote Maresca gave afterward should worry City fans more than the scoreline. "We won seven in a row. Now we have lost three in a row, so we need balance on that." It's a man reaching for a weather report when he's being asked why his team just lost three straight Premier League games for the first time in two years, and why City went behind at halftime in three consecutive matches for the first time since before the Abu Dhabi takeover. Those are alarm bells. The manager's response was a shrug.
The decision that actually deserves scrutiny is starting Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back, inverting into midfield, ahead of Matheus Nunes, the specialist in that position when fit. Khusanov is a centre-back by instinct and trade. He's looked like one out of position before, against elite opposition, and he looked like one again at the City Ground while Forest's attackers ran into the space his inversion left behind. Pairing that with Gvardiol tucking in from the left turns City's back line into a guessing game for their own midfielders, and Forest guessed right from kickoff.
Some of the chaos in that defense was out of Maresca's hands. Marc Guéhi and Gvardiol both had to come off at halftime through injury, and City's reshuffle wasn't entirely by design. That doesn't explain why City conceded the way they did in the first place, or why a system built around inverted full-backs keeps leaving the same gaps against teams with far less talent than City have.
The argument that it's too early to come for Maresca's job isn't crazy on its face. He's months into a long-term contract, with plenty of time left on it, and City still sit within shouting distance of the top of the table through the opening third of the campaign. A six-point gap to Arsenal with so much of the season left is a bad week, not a lost title.
Being early into a contract doesn't buy you immunity from the football in front of everyone's eyes. This was the third defeat in a row, against a team that had barely scored all year, with City's own manager admitting he's "concerned" even when his team wins. If Forest's toothless attack can expose this system this badly, every remaining fixture against a team with actual quality is a trap Maresca is walking into with his eyes open. He built this version of City. He's the one who has to answer for it, and "we need balance" sounds like a man still searching for one.
