How will Maresca use his new midfielders?
- Published
Enzo Fernandez, Ayyoub Bouaddi, and Elliot Anderson are all players comfortable across several positions in Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca's system.
Maresca has moved between a box and a diamond shape in midfield at City. The main difference between the two shapes is that the former has two natural holding midfielders and the second a single holding midfielder.
Against Bournemouth, Marc Guehi paired Anderson at the base of midfield. Nico O'Reilly, the left-sided attacking midfielder, was joined by right-back Rico Lewis, moving infield to form the box.
Against Crystal Palace, left-back Josko Gvardiol and attacking midfielder O'Reilly flanked number 10 Rayan Cherki as the three ahead of Anderson in what looked like a diamond.
Anderson anchoring the midfield suggests Maresca sees him as Rodri's successor.
While full of praise for Bouaddi, Maresca has stressed his youth, a nod to the fact that he will probably deputise for Anderson.
Bouaddi replaced Anderson against Palace and his short cameo came soon after the introduction of Mateo Kovacic. In pre-season, the Croatian appeared to be Maresca's first choice holding midfielder but has since slid down the pecking order.
When he came on, although starting higher than Bouaddi in the midfield diamond, he dropped deep to get on the ball in holding midfield. When this happened, Bouaddi took Kovacic's position higher up.
These rotations between holding midfield and central midfield are movements Maresca may also encourage Anderson to perform when others fill the space behind him.
Versatility in the midfield four is key. Fernandez, under Maresca, was capable of playing at the base of midfield or as an attacking midfielder on both sides.
The last midfield spot, the number 10 position, has been shared between Phil Foden and Cherki. Although Foden did play right wing against Bournemouth and Palace given City's injuries, Maresca has spoken of his central quality.
Given Foden's promising showings as a box-to-box midfielder last season – there is also a possibility both he and Cherki play through the middle together at some point this season.
