Enzo Maresca will refuse to let Manchester City players use the club's guilty verdicts as an excuse for poor form, drawing on lessons learned under Pep Guardiola to keep the squad focused on winning trophies this season.
No Excuses for Players
Most focus on Manchester City will be on what could be taken away from the club, but Maresca and his players have been given an incredible gift. Any mistakes they make from now until the end of the season can be automatically written off as a result of the guilty verdicts.
It has already started, with Marc Guehi's error in England's defeat to Spain last weekend being attributed to the news just broken that his club would be found guilty of all serious offences in the 115 case. Now that the decision of the independent panel has been published, the moment the form of a City player or the team takes a dive it can be quickly dismissed as a by-product of the guilty verdicts.
Maresca's Stance
In a sense, the players and Maresca deserve a get-out-of-jail-free card. However much they were all aware of the allegations and the noise when they joined, none of them were responsible for the cheating yet will have to bear the brunt of any public anger at stadiums up and down the country.
However, it is still nonsense and Maresca won't accept the excuse. Whatever the bombshell revelations of the past week, it remains his job to keep the squad focused on trying to win trophies this season and the players are all being paid handsomely to try.
Drawing on Guardiola's Playbook
As much as events off the pitch could derail this season, Maresca and his players have to shut out the noise and do what they can rather than worry about what they cannot control. There could even be a repeat of 2023, when the publishing of the charges in February actually brought together and galvanised a squad that was in danger of seeing their season fizzle out.
Nobody could be sure then how soon the punishments would come, yet City played through the storm and roared to famous victories in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. That isn't to say the same will happen, but Maresca also possesses a talented squad who are capable of winning trophies.
He will be helped in his challenge of keeping the players focused by the fact that he was there for those months in 2023 as Guardiola's assistant. Even if the players are now different, he saw every page of Guardiola's playbook that ensured the squad then were not distracted by the serious allegations levelled at the club and instead found the best versions of themselves.
City's former manager, who has come out and defended the club again since the guilty verdicts, will be available to help Maresca should he need it over the coming months. But the new man in the chair has already shown signs that he is capable of stepping up and has had plenty of time during this international break to plan how he can get the best out of the players.
City may not win at Anfield and they may not win anything this year - but not if Maresca still has anything to do with it. The pressure on the club simply won't be allowed to be used as an excuse on the pitch.
