Maresca's Bold Tactics: Guehi Shines as Midfielder

Enzo Maresca walked into his first Premier League game as Manchester City manager with an easy option in front of him: keep it simple, pick a familiar side, avoid headlines.

He did the opposite.

Maresca rips up the script

Team sheets dropped and jaws followed. Six players who can operate in defence. Mateo Kovacic on the bench. And, most striking of all, Marc Guehi – England centre-back, former Crystal Palace captain – lining up not at the heart of the back line, but as City’s holding midfielder.

At first it looked like a misprint. Then the warm-up confirmed it. While the recognised back four went through their drills with a City coach, Guehi stayed apart, taking his cues in the middle of the pitch. When referee Jarred Gillett blew for kick-off at Etihad Stadium, the experiment became reality.

For 84 long minutes, it looked like the talking point would be a botched gamble from a rookie City boss.

City were already under scrutiny after a sobering 3-0 defeat by Arsenal in the Community Shield. Another setback, this time against Bournemouth, threatened to drag the champions’ aura into question and shove Maresca into the harshest of spotlights, just as the early-season heat had been burning on Manchester United and big-spending Tottenham after their opening losses.

Instead, the narrative flipped – and Guehi himself smashed it into a different shape.

The unlikely match-winner in midfield

Stationed in front of the defence, Guehi did not just survive. He imposed himself.

He snapped into three tackles – more than anyone else on the pitch. He barely misplaced a pass, completing 94.9% of his 59 attempts. He won eight of his 11 duels. For a player “who has never played as a midfielder”, as Maresca later pointed out, it was a display of remarkable assurance.

Then came the moment that turned a tactical curiosity into what will be called a masterstroke.

With City staring at back-to-back defeats to start the season, Guehi surged into the box and rose above everyone to thump home an 84th-minute header – the 10th Premier League goal of his career, but surely his most significant yet. Josko Gvardiol followed with a composed finish to complete a comeback that had looked unlikely for most of the afternoon.

The Etihad, restless and anxious for much of the contest, finally exhaled.

‘Just an idea’ that changed the game

Guehi admitted the switch had caught even him slightly off guard.

“It was just an idea the manager had, we worked on it in the week. We're trying different things, trying different solutions for the team,” he told Sky Sports. “I'm glad today it paid off in the end.”

Speaking to BBC Sport, he underlined how new the role felt: he had not played in midfield often, but “enjoyed it simply because I got so much help from so many people. When you have that you feel comfortable to just go out and play and do what you can for the team.”

Maresca, who knows Guehi from his Crystal Palace days, had clearly seen this coming in his own mind.

“Marc Guehi has never played as a midfielder, today he was very good, so I am happy with the effort from the players,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “Sometimes you visualise things. I know Marc from Palace and I always thought he could play as a midfielder because he is very good. So we tried it for a few days and I think he was quite good.”

Quite good felt like an understatement by full-time. Maresca went further, hinting that this was not just a one-off ploy, describing Guehi as “a solution” in the middle of the park.

Guehi, for his part, kept the mood light when asked where he might play next week. “Who knows? Maybe up front. We'll see.”

Transfer shockwave and a new pivot

The tactical twist arrived against a backdrop of off-pitch upheaval.

Just 50 minutes before kick-off, news broke that City had agreed an £86m fee with Lille for 18-year-old midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi. Maresca insisted he knew nothing about the deal yet, saying he had not spoken to the decision-makers at the club.

But the size of the fee and the context are impossible to ignore. Bouaddi arrives burdened with expectation, a teenager asked to help fill the void left by 2024 Ballon d'Or winner Rodri’s move to Barcelona and Tijjani Reijnders’ departure to Saudi Arabia. City have lost the metronome and the auxiliary controller of their midfield in one window. The rebuild has to be bold.

Bouaddi is set to operate in the pivot alongside club-record signing Elliot Anderson, who made his Premier League debut for City and lasted an hour. Anderson’s performance hinted at what he will offer: relentless running, smart positioning, and an instinct for cutting out danger before it developed.

On Sunday, though, it was Anderson and the “surprise partner” Guehi who carried the load. One a record signing, the other a centre-back repurposed as a shield and, ultimately, a saviour.

City in flux, still expected to win

From the outside, it looks like a club in transition. New manager. Iconic figures gone. A midfield being rebuilt on the fly. A back line pushed forward into new roles.

Inside the stadium, the expectation has not shifted an inch.

Former City goalkeeper Joe Hart summed it up: “I think City look OK. It's obviously interesting when they have had such settled world class players that they have almost mixed and matched.

“Anderson and Guehi is an interesting one in midfield but that won't be a long-term thing, especially with Bouaddi coming in. I think with people coming back late from the World Cup, Maresca is just trying out things in-season, in-game.

“That's just where Manchester City are at the moment, they've completely changed everything about themselves but they're still expected to win.”

On this evidence, Maresca is prepared to take risks to make sure they do. He gambled on a centre-back as his holding midfielder and left a proven operator like Kovacic on the bench. For 84 minutes, it looked like the sort of decision that haunts a new manager.

Then Marc Guehi climbed, connected, and turned a tactical experiment into the first defining decision of Maresca’s City reign.

If this is how he starts, what does the rest of the season look like once Bouaddi walks through the door and the pieces finally settle?