Inside Enzo Maresca's Man City training: Using mannequins to mimic low blocks, the Pep Guardiola drill he's scrapped - and why Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol are central to his plans

Enzo Maresca missed a trick if none of his staff thought to stick a GPS vest on him as he worked just south of the river in South Korea’s capital.

Forget putting Manchester City’s squad through their paces, nobody can have covered more ground during Saturday’s training session than the manager who undoubtedly has similar mannerisms and ideas to the guy who he has replaced.

Maresca drove this hour, planted right in the middle of the action for almost all of it. Acting as a tigerish opposing defender as a soft, and often dull, four-song playlist – Wonderwall, Hey Jude, Don’t Look Back in Anger and Blue Moon - looped endlessly for the few thousand local fans watching on.

There were key takeaways from this as to what Maresca’s City will look like in the coming months. ‘The willingness of the players has been very good,’ he said. ‘They have been very open-minded with a new manager arriving, changing some structures and patterns.’

Enzo Maresca is extremely hands-on in training sessions with his new Manchester City squad

City are acclamitising to life under Maresca, who succeeded Pep Guardiola earlier this summer

PASS, PASS, PASS

Maresca stood by Phil Foden, directing traffic from the central areas to 11 players who appear to be starting the club’s third and final friendly of their pre-season tour against Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

City’s boss had chaired a brief huddle before the start of their first proper tactical drill, one that would last 15 minutes – long enough to hammer home the principles but not too long to allow minds to drift. Pep Guardiola’s always used to be around the same length.

Maresca managed to sweep through 16 attempts at building from the back, something he is insistent on perfecting before the Premier League campaign kicks off in a fortnight. Goalkeeping coach Michele De Bernardin fizzed crosses to Gianluigi Donnarumma and from there, City were told to play.

City largely built up slowly, using centre halves Ruben Dias and Vitor Reis, needing to keep their concentration while playing against nobody – basically walking through the process other than when Maresca pressed the ball. Four converged on an Antoine Semenyo cross, indicating the coach’s willingness to flood the box.

Those included Josko Gvardiol, who attacked the inside channel, seen as a key area of exploitation – the defender being talked through that by Maresca away from the group before they began the next stage of the session.

Phil Foden appears central to his plans after having frequent conversations with the Italian

Josko Gvardiol's underlapping runs through the inside channel are a key focus of his attack

PUT INTO PRACTICE

Two banks of mannequins were rooted into the grass, mimicking a 5-4-1 mid block – something City expect to face a great deal this term. Ten bibbed players, those slated for the bench against Atletico, acted as the opposition this time.

Again, Maresca reaffirmed Foden’s job with him. The chosen team were to replicate the last 15 minutes with more pace. White cones were placed across the width of the pitch, just inside the attacking half, to perhaps indicate how high Maresca intends his back four to stand when in possession.

First-team coach Danny Walker, formerly in City’s academy, brought energy to this, cajoling the fluorescent orange bibs – who would also then have the opportunity to play through a defensive opposition themselves to make sure all were giving practical experience of the messages.

This was again more about honing the patterns rather than anything overly competitive, the defensive 10 not really engaging across a shorter drill. Maresca clapped when moves were resurrected, like when Gvardiol took control of a situation when the ball bobbled in the box, rather than perfect goals.

He had another word with the Croatian before the third drill. Clearly, he is a key part of the plans.

Maresca has scrapped rondos from training sessions, a popular drill under Guardiola (above)

HIGHER STAKES

The longest part of the session, 16 minutes, was spent with just eight defensive bibs – seemingly mirroring City being able to beat an early press and bypassing two opponents.

They had an overload and this is where the expectation was to move possession with quick precision. Maresca volleyed a pass straight out to Savinho to restart play before the defence could rearrange themselves, designed to manufacture different bits of game play.

When Foden smashed one effort past reserve goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli, Maresca span and demanded a new ball from coaches behind him, wanting quick repetition. There was some competitiveness in this and when the bibs attacked, it proved the only time throughout that Sunday’s first team did any defensive work whatsoever.

That suggests how Maresca envisages doing the majority of his work and so it is little wonder that the mood of players around the first two weeks has been encouraging. As the final section became more rudimentary – crossing wide and attacking, with Maresca wanting to utilise the wings – Donnarumma was undergoing more work on his 40-yard passing with goalkeeping coaches. A late shooting competition seemed optional. Maresca was still in amongst it all.

He was not early on though. The Italian missed the start, owing to a late arrival for media duties. Head of performance Chris Elderkin – one of very few still here from Guardiola’s reign - led the warm ups, devising team games that saw some players – Foden included – playfully arguing about the implementation of rules throughout.

There were no rondos, a past staple. But there was always a ball in play. While some things change, others remain the same. In keeping with the man in the middle.