Maresca Man City tactics are taking shape across pre-season, with Enzo Maresca deploying a system that draws on the principles of his former mentor Pep Guardiola while introducing a distinctive structure of his own.
Guardiola is sometimes described as being rigidly attached to a single system, but that is not the view of those who worked closest to him. Domenec Torrent, a long-time assistant of Guardiola’s, defined positional play as ‘how you place yourself in relation to others on the field when you have the ball, and where you should be so that you can continue pressing when you lose it’. The broader Guardiola philosophy also rested on keeping possession as far from his own goal and as close to the opponent’s as possible, and on maintaining a solid rest defence, with players behind the ball ready to deal with counter-attacks.
Maresca’s City embody those same principles. City recorded 64% possession in their first pre-season fixture against Inter Milan, and on the ball, players hold clearly defined positions rather than roaming freely. Four or five players, typically the three defenders and the holding midfielders, remain behind the ball when City attack.
How Maresca Man City tactics differ from Guardiola’s system
On the ball, Maresca sets City up in a 3-2-2-3 shape, the same formation he used at Chelsea. Three defenders form the first line, capable of playing with the ball and covering the width of the pitch. Two midfielders sit in front of them, helping to progress play, screen the backline, and counter-press quickly when possession is lost. In pre-season, Tijjani Reijnders has been given licence to contribute to attacks from that pairing, with Matteo Kovacic sitting deeper at the base of midfield.
The role of the wide wingers is arguably the most defining element of the system. Maresca asks them to stay high and wide, resisting the temptation to drift infield. Nico Gonzalez addressed this directly after a pre-season game against K-League All-Stars. ‘I think the idea is clear,’ he said. ‘We try to arrive to the wingers. We have a lot of quality in wingers.’
The approach contrasts with Guardiola’s final season at Manchester City, when wingers were often used in narrow positions, something Guardiola attributed to the profile of players available to him at the time. Maresca’s use of wide wingers is closer in spirit to City’s 2016-17 campaign. Guardiola’s friend and journalist Marti Perarnau recorded the coach’s thinking on the subject in his book The Pep Revolution, quoting Guardiola directly: ‘Just stay there on the wing, stay wide. Bide your time, be patient and your moment will come. If you stop paying attention and drift into the middle, how many will you have to get past? Four!’
In pre-season, Antoine Semenyo operated on the flank and was arguably City’s standout performer, receiving the ball with space to run at his full-back and frequently arriving near the box to cut the ball back for a forward. For the players infield, the task is simplified around locating that repeatable situation.
City’s defensive shape and the role of Gvardiol and O’Reilly
When opponents double up on dangerous wide players, space opens centrally. That is where players comfortable in tight areas, such as Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki, are expected to have an impact. Maresca has also asked Josko Gvardiol to move from left-back into a left attacking-midfield position when City have possession, helping form a box shape in midfield. Both Gvardiol and Nico O’Reilly have shown an ability to contribute in the final third by arriving late into the box from full-back positions.
Out of possession, the approach has shifted from what Maresca used at Chelsea, where he favoured a man-to-man press high up the pitch. At City in pre-season, the defensive shape has looked more like a 4-2-4, with players pressing in a zonal fashion rather than man-to-man. Maresca explained his thinking on the shift: ‘Usually the team that was defending found the solution by going man-to-man. Now the teams that try to build up are trying to find solutions against man-to-man. I don’t know when but there is going to be a bit of change.’
The zonal defensive press has been the least settled part of City’s pre-season work, with players in midfield and at full-back sometimes covering large distances and leaving gaps in the shape. Maresca acknowledged it is an area that improves as players sharpen their understanding of the press and their physical condition improves. Guardiola himself adjusted his defensive approach repeatedly in his final season at the club without fully resolving the question.
The Premier League season will test how quickly Maresca can settle the system. The 3-2-2-3 shape was the structure City used to win the treble, and the 4-2-4 defensive block and the use of full-backs moving infield were features of City’s 2025-26 campaign. Maresca’s version is his own, but it carries clear references to the decade that came before it, a quality that BBC Sport and others have noted makes the transition feel less abrupt for players and supporters alike.
