Sports11 August, 20262 min read
Enzo Maresca Says Manchester City Will Be Judged Against Pep Guardiola After 10 Games
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People will compare him with Pep Guardiola after 10 matches. Replacing Guardiola is an impossible challenge with exceptionally high expectations.
Pep shadow, early scrutiny
Enzo Maresca, preparing for his first competitive stretch as Manchester City manager, said the club’s new campaign will be judged against Pep Guardiola almost immediately, with his benchmark coming “after 10 games.” Maresca told reporters during City’s pre-season tour in Seoul that “People will be comparing it to Pep after 10 games, it doesn't put pressure on me,” as he acknowledged the scrutiny that follows Guardiola’s trophy-laden tenure.
“Someone asked me if it’s impossible job to follow him — maybe, but at the same time it’s a privilege.”
The context for that comparison is Guardiola’s 17 major honors, including six Premier League titles, which Maresca said left expectations “sky-high” in the blue half of Manchester. Maresca also described Guardiola as “the best manager in the world over the last 15 or 20 years,” framing the challenge as both difficult and familiar as he returns to City after serving as Guardiola’s assistant during the club’s treble-winning 2022-23 campaign.
Guardiola talks in Barcelona
Before taking charge, Maresca said he met Guardiola in Barcelona shortly before his official appointment to discuss the Manchester City squad, describing the exchange as time spent “some hours together.”
Maresca said, “We had planned before the season finished here to spend some time in the summer holidays together,” but added that he likes to “go in empty sometimes to see things for myself.”
He also used the pre-season period to outline how the Premier League’s tactical emphasis has shifted since his previous stint in England, pointing to “the growing emphasis on dead-ball situations and man-to-man defensive systems.”
Maresca argued that despite those trends, the Premier League remains “completely different compared to other countries,” saying “Which league can compete with the Premier League? Spain? Barcelona, Real Madrid, yes, but then the rest is not the same.”
Captaincy and a bench rule
One of Maresca’s immediate priorities is selecting a new club captain following Bernardo Silva’s departure, with the current leadership group including Ruben Dias, Rodri, and Erling Haaland. Maresca said he has a rule from his Leicester and Chelsea days that when the captain’s team scores, “the captain had to come to the bench, not to celebrate, but for instructions,” while allowing celebration if the captain himself scores.
“If Erling is the captain, we have a problem, can you imagine?”
He warned that if Erling Haaland were captain, “we have a problem, can you imagine?” because the captain would need to move toward the bench after goals rather than remain in celebration. Maresca also said the captaincy decision will depend on developments within the squad, while noting that Rodri’s situation is uncertain due to interest from Barcelona, and he described the leadership group as missing “one” homegrown presence at the moment.