Maresca's perfect start: Four wins, but the derby is the real test

Maresca's perfect start: Four wins, but the derby is the real test

Four games in, four wins, and a manager who is quietly refusing to get carried away. Enzo Maresca has made the kind of start at Manchester City that most coaches would dream of, yet his focus is already fixed on what comes next.

The latest victory came in the Champions League, a competition City know all about, as they left the Estádio do Dragão with a 2-0 win over Porto. Erling Haaland scored twice, Porto failed to register a shot on target, and Maresca's first European game in charge ended with the Blues having followed three Premier League wins with a fourth success in all competitions.

But it was not the sequence of results that appeared to please him most. It was the manner of the performance.

"It was the complete performance on the ball and off the ball for 95 minutes," said Maresca.

There is a caveat tucked in there, though. City were actually frustrated during the opening 45 minutes, with Porto's goalkeeper proving a stubborn obstacle. The breakthrough only came later, and the manager acknowledged as much.

"We created enough chances to win the game in the first half and their goalkeeper was very good," he admitted. "We tried to continue in the second half in the same way."

Eventually, Haaland found the net, and the result was never really in doubt after that. Porto, for all their early resistance, could not muster a single effort on target over the 95 minutes.

Maresca, ever the pragmatist, is not about to start making grand claims about where this team stands. When asked about the bigger picture, he was measured.

"In terms of where we are, I don't know," he said. "I can see game after game, the team is improving."

That improvement will face its sternest examination yet on Sunday, when City travel to Old Trafford for Maresca's first Manchester derby. The buildup has already begun in his mind, though he is keeping his feet on the ground.

"Now it's a matter of recovery, and then we prepare for Sunday's game," he said. "I'm very excited for that – but first recovery."

Four wins from four is about as much as anyone could have asked for from a new manager still finding his feet. The real measure, perhaps, comes across town on Sunday. For now, the perfect start stands, with the caveat that the fixtures are about to get considerably tougher.