Enzo Maresca says he took off Marc Guehi and Rayan Cherki at half-time against Aston Villa because both were on yellow cards, and he did not want Man City to risk a red in a loud, hostile stadium.
Guehi made a mistake for the only goal of the first 45 minutes and Cherki was part of a midfield that struggled. Neither came out for the second half, with Rico Lewis going on at right-back and Abdukodir Khusanov moving inside.
The Maresca Guehi Cherki story is not about punishment, according to the City boss, but the way it played out raised a few eyebrows around the Etihad. It came on the back of a Villa Park trip that was billed as the one ground City cannot seem to conquer.
Why did Maresca take Guehi off at half-time?
It was the third mistake Guehi has made in the last two Premier League games, and Maresca hinted that workload played a part as well as the booking. Reports from the Manchester Evening News say the City boss was relaxed about it.
Maresca said: “He’s okay, just a technical decision like happened in all the games that the manager decided to make changes. I’m not worried about Marc at all. I know he is playing every minute since the season started with us and the national team, so it’s not easy.”
He added: “The change was also because he was on a yellow card and the way we want to be aggressive sometimes to have one yellow card can be dangerous. But I’m not worried at all.”
Guehi has played every minute since the season started, so the argument that the centre-back City long tracked at Crystal Palace needed a breather is easy enough to follow.
Why was Cherki substituted for the fourth time this season?
This was the fourth game already this season that Cherki has been replaced at half-time. Two of those come with context, though. He was sacrificed at Old Trafford following Phil Foden’s red card, and he was taken off with City cruising past Norwich in the Carabao Cup.
Maresca said the booking Cherki had picked up also contributed to the decision to bring Foden on. “It’s not with Rayan,” he said. “The last game I changed him at half-time, I changed him, Ruben Dias and one more player against PSG so it’s not just Rayan. Today I changed Rayan but also Marc Guehi.”
He went on: “The main reason for Marc and for Rayan was because both were on yellow cards and with this stadium sometimes the referee also with the noise they judge in a different way so I prefer to change players. I think against PSG it was a bit different. Today we needed a technical midfielder, that’s why Rayan was out and Phil was inside.”
What about Ayyoub Bouaddi?
Maresca also explained why Ayyoub Bouaddi did not feature. “No doubt that Ayyoub is going to help us,” he said. “Today Enzo and Elliot both had a very good game and we have so many game that Ayyoub is going to play minutes.”
Injury news after the Aston Villa defeat
City were also without Matheus Nunes and Antoine Semenyo at Aston Villa, and the absence of both was noticeable. Nunes missed a second successive game with a knock picked up against Ipswich, but Maresca was optimistic: “Matheus could be available for the next game.” That means Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie with Brighton at the Etihad, before the two sides meet again in the league. Semenyo is sidelined for two months.
Iliman Ndiaye was taken off shortly after standing up a cross for Erling Haaland to head the equaliser early in the second half, with 18-year-old Ryan McAidoo coming on. Maresca played it down: “He’s ok, he had cramp, he was tired but he was very good between the first half and the second half.”
Author opinion
Pulling two booked players before they could cost City a man is easy to defend, and Maresca was calm about it. Still, three Guehi errors in two league games is a pattern worth watching, and with Nunes close to a return, the City boss has options to ease the load on his back line.
