Manchester City left Leipzig with three points and a list of things to fix, but two of Enzo Maresca’s summer signings have already given him the standard he wants the rest of the squad to reach.
Erling Haaland was honest after Wednesday night’s 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig. City can and must be better, he said. Yet in the same breath he singled out the player who made his winner, and that tells you plenty about where this new-look side is getting its lift from.
Results since the international break have been patchy for Manchester City, and the win in Leipzig was their first in four games. In a stretch like that, the players who keep producing are the ones Maresca leans on. Right now two of them arrived in the summer.
Why Elliot Anderson is already Man City’s standard-setter
Elliot Anderson grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck late on in Leipzig. His surging run and cross found Haaland at the back post, and Haaland tapped in the fifth and decisive goal of a wild night.
Haaland did not hold back afterwards. “He has been amazing, he has had an amazing start to his City career and that is what you expect,” he said. “You have to come straight in and perform. It is not easy to come in, you need to adapt and new players and a new coach, so he has been impressive. Respect.”
That respect has been earned. The £116m midfielder, who was briefly the club’s record signing, has been the standout figure in City’s midfield. He has played more than Ayyoub Bouaddi and offered more than Enzo Fernandez. We have already seen the City connection Anderson grew up with, and on the pitch he looks like a player who has been at the Etihad for years.
His next test has a twist to it. City’s next Premier League game is on Saturday at the City Ground, where Anderson goes back to his former club, Nottingham Forest.
Has Jeremy Doku stalled?
Not long ago it looked as though the Premier League would be living in a Jeremy Doku world. He came back from injury and tore Liverpool apart last month, and he looked ready to become one of the leading figures in Maresca’s team again.
He has not been able to repeat it. There was an assist for Phil Foden against Ipswich, and he impressed off the bench against Brighton in the Carabao Cup, but his recent Premier League and Champions League outings have been frustrating. In the defeat at Aston Villa he beat his man nine times and did nothing productive with any of it once he reached a threatening position.
A final-third problem, not only a Doku problem
It was a similar story against Brighton and again in Leipzig. City suffered in both games because their decisions in the final third were not smart enough. Doku is far from the only one to blame for that, but he is the player who looked most likely to make the jump this season, and he has not made it yet.
Iliman Ndiaye has filled the gap
Into that space has stepped Iliman Ndiaye. The former Everton forward’s delivery for Fernandez in Leipzig was his fourth assist in his last five appearances, and it takes him level with Foden at the top of the assist charts.
There is a clear pattern to it. Three of his four assists have been crosses into the box that were headed in, and two of the four have been finished by Haaland. With Haaland leading the line, that is the kind of service a winger at this club has to provide.
Injuries have hampered Doku and Antoine Semenyo, and Semenyo is still out. But it is the new man who has been City’s most productive winger, and he has given his manager precisely what he is looking for.
What it means for Maresca’s Man City
Maresca has said all along that this squad needs time to gel and that he needs time on the training pitch for his players to understand his ideas. He is right. Plenty of the summer arrivals are still adapting to a new club, a new league or a new coach, and patience is part of the deal.
But Anderson and Ndiaye have shown the adapting does not have to take long. One drives the midfield, the other keeps putting the ball on Haaland’s head. If some summer signings can set standards this quickly, it is fair for City to expect more from the others.
Verdict: the Man City summer signings others must follow
The encouraging part is that City do not have to look far for a template. Anderson and Ndiaye are doing the simple things well and doing them every week. The worrying part is that City still need too many moments from too few players to win games.
We still think Doku gets the nod at the City Ground, and if he does, this is his chance to answer the question. Either way, Forest will see first-hand what Anderson has become, and the rest of the attack has its standard to chase.
