Enzo Maresca has defended Manchester City's decision to start with three physical midfielders against Brighton, even though the move backfired in a 1-0 Premier League defeat.
The trio of Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi lasted just 55 minutes as a partnership before changes were made. Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden came on in the second half and gave City more of a spark against a Brighton side defending deep.
Maresca explains midfield selection
Maresca backed the gameplan despite an underwhelming team performance, pointing out that his side created enough chances to get more from the game but failed to convert them.
"I expected a physical game. Analysing them, watching them they are aggressive man-to-man," he said. "I watched the games they have played.
"I think it was a good idea to start with three physical midfielders and I was also thinking about last 20-30 minutes to refresh with Rayan, Allan, Phil. In this moment it is like this and we need just to move on."
Back-to-back league defeats
The loss means City have now suffered consecutive Premier League defeats, although they did beat Brighton in the Carabao Cup in midweek. Upcoming fixtures include testing away trips to RB Leipzig and Nottingham Forest before the international break.
Anderson, who will hope to impress against his former team, said City must improve on their display against Brighton.
"We created a lot of chances. Disappointing to lose," he said. "We didn't manage to put chances away, on another day we put three or four away. We have to bounce back for the Champions League game in a couple of days.
"Three in midfield, man for man and we had the wingers staying high and wide. We did have the width but we didn't manage to get the chances away which is unfortunate but we'll have to work on it.
"We're all disappointed. Not good enough, we don't want to be losing games but we've got to stick together.
"We've had a great start to the season, two disappointing results now but we have to stick together."
