Maresca Keeps City Perfect With Old Trafford Win — SkimNews
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- Maresca has won all four Premier League matches since replacing Guardiola, keeping City joint-top with Arsenal, capped by a 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday despite Phil Foden's sending-off
- Maresca credited his composure to lessons learned during his Chelsea tenure — contrasting with his panicked response to Robert Sanchez's red card at the same ground last September, when he made two substitutions inside seven minutes
- Haaland scored the Old Trafford winner, prompting Maresca to joke "happy Erling, happy life" — a marked tonal shift from Guardiola's often-frazzled press conferences
- Maresca cuts a calm touchline figure, standing motionless with arms folded rather than pacing and shouting like Guardiola, and has introduced loud house music to training to keep players "more happy"
- Dias told BBC Sport that Maresca has layered his own pressing and defensive details onto Guardiola-era fundamentals rather than overhauling the system
- City opened the campaign with a 3-0 Community Shield loss to Arsenal but have since reeled off five straight wins, including a Champions League victory at Porto
Why it matters: Five straight wins after a Community Shield thrashing — and a composed response to a red card at the venue of last year's Sanchez meltdown — have neutralised the Guardiola-successor narrative before it could harden, with wins over Norwich (Carabao Cup) and Sunderland next up to seal a near-flawless opening month.
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