Enzo Maresca hopes Elliot Anderson gets a warm welcome when Man City go to the City Ground on Saturday, and he has made it clear the midfielder’s best position at the Etihad may still be ahead of him.
Elliot Anderson goes back to Nottingham Forest for the first time since his summer move, with kick-off at 5.30pm (UK) on Saturday 7 November. It is a big one for Manchester City too: they have lost their last two Premier League games, although they are still second in the table behind Arsenal.
Maresca spoke about Anderson at length at his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, covering his role, how quickly he has learned and what Forest fans owe him.
Will Elliot Anderson get a good reception at Forest?
Maresca thinks he should. Asked how the City Ground will greet its former midfielder, he pointed to what Anderson gave Forest, on the pitch and in the transfer fee they banked when he left.
“I guess a good one, because what he has done there has been important. The money he left there has been important, so I hope for him that he receives a good reception,” Maresca said.
He also played down the idea that this game means more to Anderson than any other, and brushed aside the size of the fee. “It’s a big game for Elliot, but it’s a big game for all of us, all the Premier League games are important. And then in terms of, you know, how much you pay a player, I already said many times that it’s not the main thing. At the end, they are a human being. They are a player, and the important thing is that he’s a very good player, and he’s helping us,” he said.
A holding midfielder for now, but not for ever
The most interesting part of Friday’s answers was about where Anderson plays. Maresca has used him as the deepest midfielder so far, sitting close to the centre-backs, but he sees more in him than that.
“For me in this moment, Elliot is playing more as the holding midfielder, but in future, no doubt that he can play also a little bit more up front,” the City boss said. He listed his midfield options as Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Enzo Fernandez, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden, with Mateo Kovacic also getting games, and said the choice is made game by game depending on the plan.
Why he sits so deep
Maresca explained the thinking behind the No.6 role. “The idea was to have Elliot close to the central defender for different reasons, for the buildup, for the transition, for different motivations,” he said, adding that the choice of holding midfielder also depends on how City want to build and press in each game.
He also revealed the two of them had a long chat before the last Champions League game about Anderson’s understanding of the game, and that the player is “always getting better and better” after only three or four months together.
How fast has he settled at the Etihad?
Quickly, by Maresca’s account, and mostly because of his attitude. “He’s a guy that wants to learn every day. I said already that we sat with him with the video. He wants to understand things, he wants to learn, he wants to improve. And for the manager, it’s a dream,” he said.
Maresca remembers their first conversation being about positions, and said the feeling was good straight away because of how intelligent Anderson is. He has followed him for a while, from his Newcastle days, where he “struggled a little bit”, to Forest, and came up against him several times as Chelsea manager.
A familiar face waiting in the Forest midfield
Anderson will not be the only player with City links on the pitch. James McAtee, the former City midfielder, has been one of Forest’s better performers, as we noted in our Nottingham Forest vs Man City stats and head-to-head, and Maresca knows him well.
“He’s improving a lot. We spent one season together here with the EDS. Then I try to bring him with me at Leicester, but he preferred to stay with, I think, with Sheffield [United]. And again, I’m not surprised because I know about his quality,” Maresca said. McAtee is in midfield in our Nottingham Forest predicted lineup vs Man City.
“The table is not the real one”
Forest start the weekend near the bottom under Oliver Glasner, but Maresca does not buy it. “I am surprised after watching their games. The table with them is not the real one. They deserve much more. In terms also the numbers, the chances that they create every game,” he said.
He was full of praise for Glasner too, pointing to his work in Germany and with Crystal Palace, and said he has no doubt Forest will “finish in the right way”. For City, the message is simple: this is no easy trip, whatever the league position says. Our own Man City predicted lineup vs Nottingham Forest has Anderson starting in that deep role.
Verdict: Elliot Anderson’s best City role is still to come
Maresca’s words on Friday tell us two things. First, Anderson is trusted with one of the hardest jobs in his system, the player who links the defence to everything in front of it, only months after arriving. Second, the manager already sees that as a starting point rather than the finished article.
That is the exciting part for City fans. A midfielder who can protect the back line now and push further forward later gives Maresca a lot of options across a long season. If he does that at the City Ground on Saturday, in front of the fans who watched him grow, the reception should be the least of his worries.
