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IAN LADYMAN: For Enzo Maresca‚ relief finally came thirteen minutes into a quarter of an hour press conference when someone asked a routine question about Erling Haaland's fitness. 'Ah‚ finally‚' the coach of Manchester City smiled. It was the first and only question of the day that had anything to do with the actual football. And this - with City now living some weird post-115 version of reality - is how it will be for the foreseeable future.
JACK GAUGHAN: Enzo Maresca insisted that Manchester City would still have been his dream job had the club been found guilty of serious financial breaches before offering him the role. The Italian presented defiantly after the bombshell guilty verdict handed down by an independent commission last week‚ confidently claiming that he will talk openly once City win an appeal. Club chiefs held discussions with Maresca about their case and the manager threw full trust behind the ownership and chief executive‚ Ferran Soriano.
The Premier League returns this weekend - and Manchester City's guilty verdict is the hot topic. Managers are calling for a 'relentless' approach to punishing Premier League leaders - with more reaction to follow today including a first grilling of City boss Enzo Maresca.
Manchester City stars have returned to training for the first time after the club was found guilty of all serious financial breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations nearly two weeks ago. Manager Enzo Maresca was the first to arrive shortly after 9.30am‚ grinning widely for the waiting photographers and giving them an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
JACK GAUGHAN: Manchester City's stars are set to meet up as a group on Thursday for the first time since last week's bombshell verdict on the club's finances. The majority of Enzo Maresca's squad have spent the past fortnight away on an international duty rocked by an independent commission's findings that City had artificially inflated commercial revenues by £830million.
The Manchester United legend fears it will be hard for the current crop under Enzo Maresca to maintain their elite levels of performance under the cloud of 'cheating owners'.
The international break is here‚ giving Premier League clubs time to take stock of what has been a thrilling start to the 2026-27 season‚ and Opta to reevaluate their title predictions for the season's close. We're only five games in and there are already a number of intriguing storylines developing‚ not least so-called relegation favourites Hull City's rampant return to the top flight after nine years away‚ claiming eight points to sit eighth heading into the break. Enzo Maresca's start to life in charge of Manchester City couldn't have gone any better‚ winning all five games to clinch top spot as the only team with a 100 per cent record.
JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ETIHAD: Rayan Cherki raced back to halfway. He'd just given former Manchester City academy graduate Daniel Grimshaw the eyes‚ a second home goal of the evening‚ and then compelled to get the tie restarted as quickly as possible. Clearly‚ Cherki wanted more goals. More opportunity to make up for the lost half at Old Trafford last weekend‚ when he was withdrawn at the break owing to Phil Foden's red card. More opportunity to have some fun. Maybe to prove a point‚ if such things are possible on a straightforward Thursday night against Championship opposition‚ although Maresca visibly sighed at some flicks. Fortunately for Mathias Kvistgaarden‚ his wits were very much about him by the time Cherki had made it back to the centre circle‚ hurling the ball in the Dane's direction. With impressively quick hands‚ Kvistgaarden just about stopped it from bursting through his fingers.
Enzo Maresca declared that Manchester City are still waiting on an apology from referees' chief Howard Webb for a controversial derby goal in 2023. The weekend victory at Old Trafford was enveloped by controversy‚ Pro Ref admitting a mistake by the VAR officials for awarding Erling Haaland's 60th-minute goal despite Enzo Fernandez interfering with play in an offside position. Webb was in contact with Manchester United in the immediate aftermath‚ with VAR Matt Donohue and assistant Blake Antrobus stood down for the coming week's Premier League matches.
IAN LADYMAN: If Enzo Maresca is lucky we will one day look back and ask when it was we finally felt he had truly taken hold of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and claimed it as his own. If he is really lucky and if he does enough and wins enough to stick around for the long-term‚ then we may reflect on derby day in September 2026 as the day we finally drew a line under the years of Guardiola genius. So far it's been a slow burn for Maresca at City and that's because Guardiola still has his name and his principles running right through this City team. Phil Foden‚ Erling Haaland‚ Ruben Dias‚ Rayan Cherki. It's impossible not to see the great Catalan in so much of what they do.
BRU MUST GO! - Maresca makes scathing Fernandes claim as Manchester derby descends into war of words
City have had a flying start to the new season‚ securing dominant victories against Crystal Palace‚ Bournemouth and Coventry. United have had a sluggish start‚ with just four points in three games. Last time the two met‚ United won 2-0 at Old Trafford in what would be Pep Guardiola's last Manchester derby in charge and then-interim manager Michael Carrick 's first‚ with goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu. This time‚ Enzo Maresca is in charge of the blue side‚ and Carrick is the permanent boss of the Red Devils.
Michael Carrick admits that having two days less than Manchester City to prepare for Sunday's Old Trafford derby isn't 'ideal' for Manchester United. While City opened their Champions League campaign with a win in Porto on Tuesday night‚ United face Sabah of Azerbaijan at Old Trafford in a one-off Thursday slot. It has given Enzo Maresca more time to work with his squad before the 199th Manchester derby this weekend‚ and Carrick has no choice but to accept the situation.
JACK GAUGHAN: Ghosts of the Dragao were whispering. Whispering about holding midfielders and overthinking‚ whispering about Kai Havertz and gaping defences‚ whispering about throwing away matches that Manchester City had dominated. The circumstances around the 2021 Champions League final in this very stadium still haunt those of a City persuasion but not the squad. How can they? Only Phil Foden and Ruben Dias are left from that defeat by Chelsea‚ a Covid final in front of half a ground and when travelling City supporters were drowsy from the drink in the baking sun down by the River Douro. Drowsier still afterwards. Past glories and past failures cannot be on Enzo Maresca's agenda‚ carving a fresh team with a tweaked identity‚ although starting a teenager in Ayyoub Bouaddi instead of the more seasoned Elliot Anderson could easily have become a nod to Pep Guardiola's infamous decision to not operate with a conventional No 6 against Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea.
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