Incoming Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca cannot live up to Pep Guardiola but knows the Blues still pack a punch
Enzo Maresca and Arne Slot before Chelsea vs Liverpool.
Enzo Maresca and Arne Slot before Chelsea vs Liverpool.(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Enzo Maresca faces an impossible job in replacing Pep Guardiola as Manchester City rivals cheer. The rest of the Premier League has been waiting for years for the day Guardiola left because the feeling is that City's dominance cannot last without a manager who will go down as one of the greatest ever seen in English football.
They are surely right. Even if Guardiola had stayed, the idea of four consecutive league titles or six in seven years may never have been seen again so there has to be a slump expected from City even if it is relative.
Working in the favour of Maresca though is that most of City's rivals do not like they are in a position to take advantage. The big exception is Arsenal, with Mikel Arteta now the longest serving manager in the Football League and looking to add the Champions League to their Premier League title won this season.
Arsenal will look to start a new period of dominance, although they are yet to discover that the only thing more difficult than winning the league is winning it again (and again, and again). A City squad who nearly pipped them this season will be hungry for revenge, and every other team will raise their game against the champions.
Otherwise though, City's opposition does not look formidable. Liverpool have a fraction of the confidence and strength that they enjoyed last summer under Arne Slot when they splashed out £450m after winning the league, while Chelsea cannot be confident of clarity under new coach Xabi Alonso after their ownership undertook "a period of self-reflection" to review a wretched campaign.
United are on the up under Michael Carrick, but they have been here several times before. A club legend impressing as caretaker before struggling as permanent boss happened with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer yet even more generally the Reds have learnt to their cost that playing Champions League football between Premier League games makes it so much harder to be consistent.
Even without Guardiola, City still represent as strong a chance of anyone in the market of being competitive in the biggest competitions every season and winning trophies. That's what Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo were convinced by in January, and they have already had two big days out at Wembley to justify that belief.
For Elliot Anderson or any other player this summer weighing up their options with the big Premier League clubs interested, City without Guardiola aren't as attractive an option as they were. However, the fact that so many of the alternatives do not look better makes Maresca's life easier when he takes the reins at the Etihad.