City beat Crystal Palace 4-1, with Cherki delivering another standout performance — a result that will have eased plenty of nerves among City fans.
Maresca’s reshuffle pays off: putting Cherki at number 10 was the key move
Maresca dropped the tinkering from week one and simply gave Cherki, who’d already impressed in the opener, the number 10 role, moved Guéhi — misplaced at defensive midfield last week — back to his natural centre-back spot, dropped O’Reilly (who’d played number 10 in the opener) back into a deeper midfield role, and shifted Foden out wide.
Starting Cherki and putting everyone else back where they’re comfortable clearly worked. Cherki carried his opening-day form straight into this one, scoring twice, and both were genuinely excellent finishes — the first came after picking up a Foden pass and dribbling through a crowd of four Palace defenders in the box with the ball seemingly glued to his foot, finding an almost impossible angle to finish; the second was a rocket from outside the box that showed off just how much of an attacking threat he is.
Haaland’s back among the goals, and the chemistry with his teammates looks like it’s starting to click
More encouraging than even Cherki’s performance was the return to form of City’s number one, Haaland — a stark turnaround from his profligate opener. He scored twice: a well-placed header in the first half to open the scoring, and a left-foot finish in the second half off another Foden assist. His movement and aerial presence both looked far more decisive and energetic than in week one, and the chemistry with his teammates looks like it’s genuinely starting to come together. Foden, shifted out wide, added two assists of his own — a solid outing, though a missed chance from an open goal in the first half is worth noting.
Defence: Guéhi’s physicality shows once back at centre-back, and the one goal conceded came with a slice of luck
Further back, O’Reilly — nominally back in a deeper role — still pushed forward regularly and created real danger, setting up one key chance and generally making his presence felt. Guéhi, back at centre-back, got to show off his physical edge again. Palace still scored, but that goal carried an element of luck — a free kick that cannoned off the crossbar and bounced in off the goalkeeper’s back — and the foul that led to the free kick itself was debatable, the kind of call a more lenient referee might not have given. Overall, the defensive performance was solid, without any real alarm bells.
What’s next: how will Maresca fit in Enzo Fernández?
With the summer’s biggest deal completed just before the window shut, Enzo Fernández has officially joined City — and how the squad reshapes around him is worth watching closely. Maresca is a manager with plenty of ideas; how he chooses to deploy Enzo, and whether that disrupts the chemistry City are just starting to build, are things to watch from matchweek three onward.
Speaking of Enzo Fernández, most fans’ clearest memory of him is probably still from the World Cup that just wrapped up — a stoppage-time winner in the round of 16 against Egypt that turned a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 comeback win, and a stunning equalizer from outside the box in the semi-final against England off a Messi assist. But he also picked up two rather needless yellow cards in the final itself and got sent off, leaving his side to play a man down — they went on to lose 0-1 in extra time to Spain, ending any hope of defending their title.
Enzo was a favourite of Maresca’s back at Chelsea, so slotting into City’s current system shouldn’t be an issue. Technically, his range of passing has always been his calling card — capable of raking cross-field diagonals and genuinely incisive through balls, and generally very good at dictating tempo in midfield. His defensive work rate and physical presence tend to be underrated too — nowhere near the level of departed Ballon d’Or winner Rodri defensively, but comfortably above average — and he’s got a decent shot from range as well, making him a real weapon for breaking down stubborn defences. How he ends up combining with number one Haaland and the in-form Cherki, though, will be a real test of Maresca’s coaching.