The Blues ended the 2025/26 season with a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa, but they reversed that score line at the start of 2026/27 as late goals from Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol snatched victory away from the Cherries
Maresca lost out to Arsenal in the FA Community Shield last weekend, and his team looked on course for another defeat, as part of a mixed return to Manchester for the former Chelsea boss,
Curiously the new man in charge opted for a defensive line up in his first league game since replacing Pep Guardiola this summer with Guehi starting in midfield alongside Nico O'Reilly and club record signing Elliot Anderson.
That call bemused City fans going into game and the Italian coach indicated post-match, that his tactics were borne out of necessity, on a chaotic debut return in Manchester.
"Sometimes you visualise things; I know Marc from Crystal Palace and always thought he could play as a midfielder, because he's very good. We tried in the first two days with him as a central defender stepping up, and then tried in the last two days simply as a midfielder. I think it was quite good.
"The good thing is now he gives us solutions for the future.
"Today, we had four or five players that arrived very late, just 10 days ago, so for them it's almost still preseason. Erling Haaland is one, Elliot Anderson, Guehi, Nico O'Reilly, so it's complicated. But they've done a huge effort to help."
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