Maresca: Manchester City must continue fighting for trophies
By Joel Masibo, September 5, 2026Enzo Maresca insists Manchester City must maintain its winning mentality and challenge for major honours, despite the club entering a new era under his leadership.
The Italian Man City manager has made an encouraging start to life at the Etihad Stadium, guiding City to victories in their opening two Premier League matches. His side will next welcome Coventry City on Saturday, September 5, 2026, before beginning their Champions League campaign away to Porto.
With the summer transfer window now closed, Maresca has a settled squad to work with until at least the 2027 January window. While he accepts that competing for trophies is an unavoidable expectation at a club of City’s stature, his immediate priority is developing the team rather than looking too far ahead.
“When you are Manchester City, you have to compete and try to win titles and we are going to try to do our best,” he said in Friday’s press conference.
“The main focus is to see the team improve game after game. For me, the focus now is not where we can be in March or April. It’s how we can win the game tomorrow and do better.
“All the managers have their own idea. It’s a matter of winning games and I like to win games in the way we want to play and this is important not only when we have the ball but also when we don’t have it.”
City have undergone significant changes during the summer, with Maresca replacing Pep Guardiola and a number of experienced players departing. The club also brought in several new faces, including Enzo Fernández, Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Iliman Ndiaye, Allan and Gerónimo Rulli.
According to Maresca, those changes represent the beginning of a different chapter for the Premier League giants.
“It’s our team,” he said.
“The main target for me is to see how they improve day after day, game after game. It’s something we have done, it’s just the beginning of the Premier League and we have many more games.
“The club is aware and the coaching staff are aware that it is the beginning of a new project or something new and the most important thing is that you can see the team is better.”
Rather than placing excessive emphasis on where City will finish the campaign, Maresca wants his players to concentrate on continuous improvement and delivering results one match at a time.
His immediate challenge comes against Coventry, with City looking to make it three Premier League wins from three before turning their attention to Europe.