Manchester City’s weaknesses under Enzo Maresca are being exposed

After three straight defeats, City’s manager says he will use the international break to reassess. Their problems may go beyond tactics

Enzo Maresca seemed, if not quite baffled by his side’s Saturday defeat to Nottingham Forest, then at least a little put out. After seven straight wins from the start of the season, that’s now three straight defeats, a pattern so unusual that it’s been recorded only once before in top-flight English history, by Sheffield Wednesday in 1904-05. The three defeats were all different, Maresca said, although in all of them City had had more possession and more chances.

In the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa two weeks ago, City had 63% of the ball and had 15 chances to Villa’s eight.