“WELCOME BACK ENZO” read the tifo beforehand and by the breathless close this was a joyous return for Manchester City’s new manager, Enzo Maresca, as a damaging defeat became a memorable win due to Marc Guéhi’s 84th-minute equaliser and Josko Gvardiol’s added-time winner.
Until then, Marco Rose had been closing in on leading Bournemouth to a first away victory at City. But two lapses in defence and suddenly City were the ruthless proposition they were not before.
First, Rayan Cherki floated in a corner from the right and up rose Guéhi to head past Djordje Petrovic, the Cherries No 1 left stranded by a deflection off Adrien Truffert. Maresca, former assistant to Pep Guardiola, sighed hard, then bounced around when the winner was converted.
Cherki, a second-half substitute, tapped to Gvardiol and he scored – the video assistant referee ruling this legal after an initial offside flag.
Zoom out, though, and this remains a disjointed first Premier League outing for Maresca’s side. When Jack Grealish entered on 82 minutes it was for Phil Foden who was as impotent as Erling Haaland, and City, overall.
Maresca, dapper in a baggy suit reminiscent of a 1980s Hollywood movie, offered a tactical surprise by deploying Guéhi as a holding midfielder, alongside Elliot Anderson, on the £116m signing’s debut.
He said: “It was just an idea the manager had, we worked on it during the week. We’re trying different things, solutions. I’m glad today it paid off in the end.”
Of interest, too, was Nico O’Reilly, City’s player of the year at left-back, preferred at No 10 to Foden, who lined up on the right. On this showing, this Maresca blueprint requires work, though he hinted it may only be a stopgap as players become fitter.
Rose’s team arrived unbeaten in 18 league games, a fine record achieved under Andoni Iraola, now at Liverpool, and when Rayan ran in and let fly their potency was clear. Gianluigi Donnarumma saved the effort, an act the keeper’s opposite number did not have to do when O’Reilly whipped the ball in from the left. Haaland, long locks newly shorn to a crew cut, caught between a header and shot, managed only an innocuous chest of the ball, so failed to record goal No 163 on his 200th City appearance.
With Rodri departed for Barcelona, Anderson is City’s new No 6 – charged with controlling the game, serving up incisive passes and mopping up, as he did expertly in his area to snuff one Cherries move out.
Yet Anderson and his teammates were nowhere when torn apart by the sequence that closed with Marcus Tavernier’s opener. From the visitors’s right-back corridor the ball was flipped upfield. Rúben Dias and Abdukodir Khusanov had a mix-up. Rayan, profiting, turned the ball to Evanilson whose ball from the right caught Rico Lewis out of position and Tavernier poked home.
This was excellent for Rose and his men, a head-shaker for Maresca, who went straight to his monitor to dissect it. The answer was naivety – and after last weekend’s 3-0 Community Shield drubbing by Arsenal this was a fourth unanswered strike in Maresca’s two most important games – so far.
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Maresca’s City could be described as Guardiola-esque. Quick balls to Haaland, and Foden – he found one that released the No 9 – and the wingers, particularly Antoine Semenyo, to drive in, prime components of the plan.
Semenyo appealed for a penalty when Adam Smith grappled him – but the referee Jarred Gillett was uninterested, ditto when Anderson, twice, upended a visiting player: the first, on Alex Scott, appeared worthy of a yellow card.
By the break Rose’s side were far happier – and dominant. Tavernier spurned two chances to increase their lead and when Evanilson was booked towards the end of the half for rough play this showed their ascendancy: Bournemouth were in City’s face.
Maresca made zero changes for the second half – of personnel or mode. So Guéhi, not for the first time, proved clunky in an attacking region. Exhibit A: a miss from inches away from an Anderson corner.
Maresca’s first change was on 57 minutes – Matheus Nunes for Lewis, who had forced a sharp early save from Petrovic. Then on 63 minutes came Anderson’s enforced removal with what appeared a knee problem, hardly great news for City though he ambled off unaided.
This brought Mateo Kovacic as his replacement, with Cherki taking over from O’Reilly. The latter switch suggested the experiment of him as playmaker was a misfire. Immediately, Cherki fed Semenyo, who caused Petrovic’s opening save of the half, and the Frenchman’s quick feet also allowed Haaland to shoot but to no avail.
Next, the striker’s snapshot was gathered by Petrovic and Maresca’s spin on the sideline was one of disappointment – and frustration. But, then, came the end.