Manchester City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season at Aston Villa, and head coach Enzo Maresca has defended the substitutions he made during the match. City fell behind early and, despite pressing for an equaliser, could not avoid the loss.
Maresca's Response to Going Behind
City have rarely trailed under Maresca, but when they have, the coach has acted decisively. Earlier this month, City found themselves 3-0 down to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Maresca made a triple change that shifted momentum in the Blues' favour.
On Saturday, Maresca acted again. City reacted well to going a goal down early against Aston Villa, and Iliman Ndiaye hit the post with a chance that would have equalised.
Double Substitution at Half-Time
Maresca made a double substitution at the break. As against PSG, Rayan Cherki was taken off, but instead of introducing Ayyoub Bouaddi as happened at the Etihad Stadium, Phil Foden came on. The decision raised eyebrows because Foden had scored a hat-trick in midweek yet did not keep his starting spot.
However, adding a creative midfielder did not solve the issue City were grappling with. Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez have formed a strong midfield partnership, performing faultlessly against Manchester United and Liverpool. But against Aston Villa, as against PSG, they were losing the midfield battle in a frantic, end-to-end game with plenty of space in the middle of the park.
Bouaddi Left on the Bench
City needed an extra body in the centre to help win those midfield duels. Bouaddi would have offered that, yet he was surprisingly left on the bench. In his post-match press conference, Maresca was asked to explain his substitutions, particularly regarding Bouaddi.
"I think against PSG it was a bit different," he said. "Today we needed a technical midfielder, that's why Rayan was out and Phil was inside. No doubt that Ayyoub is going to help us. Today Enzo and Elliot both had a very good game and we have so many games that Ayyoub is going to play minutes."
Lessons to Learn
Maresca rarely criticises his players after a defeat, a trait he shares with Pep Guardiola, but he did admit his team will have to learn lessons from Saturday's loss. That learning curve must now extend to the decision to overlook Bouaddi. Maresca's drastic changes are not always going to work as dramatically as they did against PSG, but ignoring one of the key factors from that impressive second-half response earlier this month must go down as a mistake.
