Enzo Maresca enjoyed a flawless start as Manchester City manager, winning his first seven Premier League games in charge, but the honeymoon period is now over. Having lost at Aston Villa last weekend, City have now suffered back-to-back top-flight defeats after being beaten 1-0 at home by Brighton on Saturday. "A bit strange," Maresca said of the result.
"It is the same feeling as after Aston Villa away. We did enough to deserve something more but we have to move on and try to win games. "We created a good volume of offensive action.
Sometimes you have to be more clinical and score but it's important that we create. We did everything to be honest. The Italian added: "The attitude was good, I have nothing to say about that or the performance.
"The players fought until the end and hopefully next time we are more lucky." Maresca seemed to slot in seamlessly after taking on the impossible job of replacing the legendary Pep Guardiola, but now needs to find solutions to City's stuttering form. With chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano keeping a close eye on proceedings at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, the City manager has issues to address across the pitch. Brighton stun Man City to maintain bright start City missed out on the title to Arsenal last season and are expected to be the closest challengers again.
Maresca's men remain top on goal difference but will be overtaken by the Gunners if they beat Liverpool on Sunday (kick-off ). City have conceded 10 goals in nine league games this term, double the amount that Mikel Arteta's men have let in. Individual errors at the back are beginning to stack up - Marc Guehi, who was dropped for this game, and Gianluigi Donnarumma were culpable at Villa Park and Matheus Nunes was the guilty party against Brighton.
Maresca has been unequivocal about his number one saying it is "Donnarumma plus 10 [other players]" on the teamsheet but defensive frailties mean City have now kept only one clean sheet in their past eight games in all competitions. The result also saw City lose consecutive Premier League games for the first time in 14 months. "Why?" Maresca asked of the individual errors.
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