Man City got the post-Pep Guardiola era underway with a win thanks to two late goals from Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol.
It wasn’t quite as comfortable as Maresca would have undoubtedly liked, with visitors Bournemouth leading the game up until the 84th minute.
Despite securing all three points, the former Chelsea boss admitted his side remain a ‘work in progress.’
“To be honest, I feel in the same position we were after Arsenal (in the Community Shield),” Maresca said.
“It’s normal that you judge because of results but I don’t see a big difference from one week ago to today.
“This is a work in progress, that’s why I am looking for new solutions like Marc Guehi as a midfielder, different things. Now we need solutions, we need to prepare the team.”
Maresca also chose to highlight the lack of preparation his side have had compared to the opposition.
“Unfortunately we still have four or five players (in the starting 11) that are in pre-season – Haaland, Guehi, Anderson, O’Reilly,” he added.
“They arrived ten days ago. I think all of Bournemouth’s players started at the beginning of pre-season, so it’s a huge difference in terms of physicality but we are going to be better and better.”