How Enzo Maresca's Man City Is Taking Shape Compared to Pep Guardiola's Era

Journalist Marti Perarnau, a friend of Guardiola, once discussed with the former City manager how he deployed wide wingers during the 2016-17 campaign.

In Perarnau’s book, The Pep Revolution, Guardiola explained that implementing the approach required time and could not be achieved simply by giving the wingers a few instructions.

He said the first task was persuading them to remain wide, hold their positions and wait patiently for the right opportunity.

Once that opportunity appeared, the winger would ideally need to consider only one question: how many defenders stood between him and his objective?

In the intended scenario, there would be just one opponent to beat.

The entire structure was designed to create a one-on-one for the winger, or occasionally leave a completely open route forward. Drifting into central areas, however, could force the player to overcome several defenders instead.

That explanation from a decade ago closely reflects the principles behind Maresca’s present-day setup and shows why the strategy remains effective.

During pre-season, Antoine Semenyo was arguably City’s most impressive performer. Positioned near the touchline, he regularly received possession with enough room to attack the opposing full-back. Those moves often took him close to the penalty area, where he could deliver a cut-back behind the defence for a teammate to finish.

For the teammates operating behind the wide player, the objective becomes straightforward: keep finding ways to reproduce that same attacking situation.