Enzo Maresca was told to ‘stop trying new things’ with a Man City player who is ‘not performing well enough’ after a call from PSG.
Manchester City coach Enzo Maresca has been asked to stop playing one of his star players out of position after a rough first half in their Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain.
Maresca’s team faced a lively crowd at the Etihad Stadium, their first home game since the club was found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules from 2009 to 2018. Former coach Pep Guardiola was there, along with CEO Ferran Soriano and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
Maresca made three changes from the team that beat Liverpool 3-0 last Sunday, bringing in Jeremy Doku, Josko Gvardiol, and Abdukodir Khusanov to replace Iliman Ndiaye, Matheus Nunes, and Nico O’Reilly.
City’s start was tough when Désiré Doué scored from long range in the 13th minute to give PSG the lead. Doué then set up Ousmane Dembélé just two minutes later, who calmly finished to make it 2-0.
While goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma could have done better on the first goal, many fans pointed the finger at Khusanov, saying he should play centre-back instead of right-back.
One fan said, “I keep saying this. No idea why Pep and Enzo don’t trust Nunes against tough teams. Khusanov isn’t any better.” Another added, “Khusanov at right-back didn’t work early on, so they dropped him, then put him back against the best UCL team?”
Others chimed in too: “Khusanov is clearly not a right-back, and dropping Nunes was a bad move. He’s our key player.” “Maresca, just accept Bouaddi should start and Khusanov can’t play right-back. That could save the season.” And, “Either play Khusanov as a centre-back or not at all. He’s not a right-back.”
PSG made it 3-0 in the 32nd minute when Vitinha scored, quieting the Etihad crowd even more.
City’s next game is at home against Ipswich on October 17.