Old habits die hard at the back
Josko Gvardiol has offered a candid assessment of life under Enzo Maresca, admitting the squad is still wrestling with the manager's defensive demands after a frantic opening weekend.
The Croatian's late double secured a 2-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday, but the scoreline flattered a defence that spent the first half scrambling. Three big chances went begging for the visitors before the interval, one of which Marcus Tavernier converted. It was, by any measure, a disjointed 45 minutes.
The second half told a different story. City tightened up considerably, restricting Marco Rose's side to a single clear opening — Daniel Jebbison's 80th-minute header, which Gianluigi Donnarumma saved.
A change of philosophy
Speaking after the game, Gvardiol was frank about the root cause. Maresca is asking his defenders to do something different to what Pep Guardiola embedded over years of dominance, and the transition is proving awkward.
"There is something that they used to do before at Chelsea and Leicester. It's not too complicated but the problem is our habit is slightly different than what he wants from us so it will take time. Every day we are working on it, and I think at the end of the day, it's a good idea, and I think it's going to work out."
There is no doubting the conviction behind the words. Gvardiol believes the tweak will ultimately prove successful, even if the early evidence is mixed.
The pattern is unlikely to shift overnight. This is probably how City will look across the opening weeks of the 2026-27 campaign — flashes of the old fluency punctuated by moments of defensive uncertainty, as an entire squad recalibrates to a manager whose ideas are completely different from his predecessor's.
Arsenal, remember, picked their way through this defence in the Community Shield, winning 3-0. Sunday was an improvement, of sorts. The hope is that the curve keeps pointing in the right direction.