LONDON — Enzo Maresca took on the seemingly impossible job of succeeding Pep Guardiola as Manchester City manager, but the Italian is off to the perfect start after his 10 men defied Manchester United for a famous 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
Maresca sprinted down the touchline to celebrate in front of the travelling City fans at full-time on Sunday, fully aware of the significance of winning his first Manchester derby in dramatic circumstances.
Phil Foden’s red card on 23 minutes left City with a mountain to climb. But Maresca’s new-look side rose to the challenge as the midfield pairing of Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson showed why they cost nearly £250 million ($340 million).
City also got the benefit of a highly contentious decision.
Erling Haaland’s winner was awarded after a lengthy VAR review that deemed Fernandez was not interfering with play as he tried to head in before the ball reached the Norwegian.
United were left furious with Red Devils defender Lisandro Martinez branding that call an “injustice”. However, United could have little complaint that the better side won despite City playing for over an hour a man light.
Maresca explained how he won the tactical battle against United boss Michael Carrick with the hosts’ attack blunted without space to counter-attack.
“I think the game with 10 players became more difficult for us, but also for them,” said Maresca.
“They are a team that love transition, they love space in behind. With 10 players we just dropped, waiting for them, so we didn’t concede any transition, we didn’t concede any space in behind.”
After a 3-0 thrashing by Arsenal in the Community Shield, many expected a season of struggle for City after Guardiola’s trophy-laden decade in charge.
Maresca’s men have responded with four consecutive wins to keep pace with the Gunners at the top of the Premier League and an impressive 2-0 victory in Porto to kick off their Champions League campaign.
The early evidence is that City’s recruitment has armed Maresca with the tools to ensure there is no major drop-off despite Guardiola’s exit.
United focused all their transfer business on strengthening the midfield, with a trio of new recruits in Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba.
But they could not compete with the financial might of Abu Dhabi-backed City in the battle for Anderson.
The England international won man-of-the-match and was ably assisted by Fernandez, who cost a joint Premier League record £125 million when he joined from Chelsea on the final day of the transfer window.
“They are both top players,” added Maresca according to AFP.
“I said already a few times that I don’t think it’s correct to judge players based on how much clubs pay for them because now the market is increasing.
“The good thing is that they are both very young so they are going to be important for the future of this club.”
City and Arsenal’s battle for the title went to the final week of last season and they already look set to lock horns once more.
Across Manchester, the feeling is growing that United remain some way off competing for the title.
Carrick earned his role on a permanent basis with a strong second half of last season that began with a dominant 2-0 win over City at home.
Just four games into the new season, they are already eight points adrift of the leaders.
“We haven’t got as many points as we would have liked at this point, for sure, there’s no getting away from that,” Carrick said.
“We’ve just got to move on and win games.”
