Why City's midfield experiment against Inter showed exactly what's missing

The first half in Hong Kong laid it bare

If anyone needed a reason for Manchester City's summer midfield business, Saturday's friendly against Inter Milan at the Kai Tak Stadium provided one inside the opening half-hour. The Blues drew 1-1 and lost on penalties, but the scoreline was almost incidental. What mattered was the shape Enzo Maresca picked and how it creaked under pressure.

Maresca started Tijjani Reijnders, Mateo Kovacic and Phil Foden in midfield. Foden pushed high and joined the four-man press, while Reijnders and Kovacic were asked to sit in front of the backline. It didn't quite work. Inter found ways through the press and, on several occasions, simply bypassed the midfield pair altogether.

That is not a slight on either player. Reijnders is at his best driving forward, and Kovacic is a number eight who thrives with a Rodri-type figure behind him. Asking them to screen the defence is asking them to play a role that doesn't fit. The result was a midfield that looked open, stretched and short of the control City usually demand.

The contrast after the break was telling. Maresca brought on Nico Gonzalez at halftime and pushed Rico Lewis up from right-back into midfield. Inter made a raft of changes of their own, so direct comparisons are messy, but the improvement was impossible to miss. Gonzalez sat in his familiar holding role, Lewis gave him support, Rayan Ait-Nouri inverted from left-back and Vitor Reis stepped into midfield at times. City suddenly had the control they'd been missing.

A rebuild still in progress

This is why the summer's work isn't done. Elliot Anderson has arrived from Nottingham Forest and looks set to be a prominent figure for Maresca. The links to Ayyoub Bouaddi make sense too — he could fill the same role. You could picture Anderson and Rodri playing the parts Reijnders and Kovacic were handed on Saturday, assuming Rodri stays.

Friendlies are the perfect laboratory for experiments like this. It's better to find out now, before the season starts, that a midfield pairing lacks the defensive solidity required. The opening 45 minutes in Hong Kong offered that lesson. The second half showed what the answer might look like.

Nico Gonzalez looks like he could be important for Maresca. Anderson will be crucial for the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders. And if Rodri remains, City have the makings of a midfield that can control games again. The first half against Inter was a reminder of why that matters.