- 1 week ago
Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca on Enzo Fernandez signing and Coventry test
City Football Academy, Manchester, UK
City Football Academy, Manchester, UK
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00:00Hi Enzo. Enzo Fernández is one of those players that seems to split opinion and divide football fans.
00:06Why was he someone you were so desperate to work with again?
00:11I know Enzo quite well. I know what he can bring to the team.
00:16He's a winner. He has a winner mentality. He knows how to win.
00:22World Cup, Club World Cup.
00:26And the main thing is that, again, he's a winner.
00:31You've spoken about wanting to bring another captain into your group. Does he fit that role as well?
00:36No. The captain is Ruben, Erling, Marguerite and Gigi Donnarumma.
00:41And can I ask about Illiman and Dai as well from Everton, another of your deadline day signings?
00:46What excites you so much about him? I can see you smiling already at the question.
00:50Yeah, he's so good. He's so good. In the last two days, you can see already how good he is
00:57in terms of 1v1,
00:59in terms of in the last third, inside the box. I'm very happy to have him with us.
01:04Enzo, good afternoon. You mentioned individual signings. With that window now closed,
01:10how happy are you with the squad at your disposal? And just what can you achieve?
01:14Are you ready now to compete on all fronts?
01:17I'm very, very happy. Very happy for the effort from the ownership, Khaldun, Hugo.
01:26Very happy. In the last days, Illiman and Enzo arrived.
01:33And now the squad is complete. It's finished. And now it's time to work.
01:37Well, it's time to work. Up next, Coventry City, of course. Just give us a bit of a fitness update.
01:43The likes of Jeremy, Nunez, any other concerns going into this one?
01:47No, Jeremy is still out. Mateus is back. He will be with us tomorrow.
01:52And then in terms of Coventry, these are the games that we need to pay attention, fully focused,
01:59because these are the games that you need 100% focus. Otherwise, it can be a tricky game.
02:07I was going to say, just finally, from me on Coventry, what do you expect from them
02:10that you don't necessarily see from an otherwise established Premier League side?
02:14They've just come up. They've placed Arsenal already. It's a bit of a baptism of fire for them already this
02:18season.
02:18No, but I think it's a normal situation when you get promoted.
02:25But you can see clearly in the way they want to play.
02:28I watched some of the last season games, some of the Frank games when it was Everton and Chelsea,
02:37just to see. And you can see that it's a team that now, you know, they struggle probably because of
02:46the Premier League,
02:47but no doubt that they are going to do a good job.
02:50Hi, Enzo. How important is it that you got the support that you did from the owners, from the board?
03:00It's very important. I think it's one of the main things in any football club,
03:06when the owner and the club support the manager.
03:10So, I think it's a very good thing.
03:13As far as Frank Lampard, you mentioned him there, former Manchester City player, of course,
03:17former Chelsea manager. What do you expect from him this season?
03:21I just said, for me, he's going to do... He has done a fantastic job last season,
03:26and he's going to do a good job this season.
03:30Again, I can see clearly what they want to do on the ball and off the ball,
03:35and no doubt that tomorrow is going to be a defueled game because all the Premier League games,
03:40they are defueled.
03:41And just finally from me, is Enzo ready to come straight in?
03:45Enzo is ready, yes.
03:49Hi, Enzo. Another one on Enzo, if that's OK.
03:54Enzo Fernandes. He might rile up the opposition players and fans,
03:59but is he someone that the teammates love to have around?
04:04Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Again, I just said, he's a winner.
04:08And when you belong to a squad, and another winner player arrive,
04:18they are always happy.
04:20I can promise you that in the last four or five days,
04:23four or five players from the squad, they were asking,
04:25is he coming? He's not, because they want him to be with us.
04:29So, it's very important that he's with us, and we are 100% happy with that.
04:37Is he someone you targeted as soon as you came in?
04:42Again, he's someone that is available. We see.
04:44We see. It's important that he's here with us.
04:48And with Omar Mahmoush gone, there's no sort of natural backup for Erling Haaland.
04:54Is that something you're comfortable with?
04:56Oh, yeah. We have different options.
04:58One-to-one can be there.
04:59We can play. It depends on the game plan,
05:02but we can use also different players in that position.
05:07Just for a second, the versatility in the squad,
05:10you've got players like Nico O'Reilly who can fill in a number of positions.
05:13Is that part of the thinking behind your recruitment?
05:17Yeah, it's part of that, but it's also, I said, since day one,
05:21that is something that I like, because we can use players in different positions.
05:25When one player can cover different positions, it's like to have more players.
05:30You know, as you said, Nico can be fullback, attacking midfielder, different position.
05:34So, it's like to have two, three players, but at the end, it's one player.
05:38So, it's good to be versatile, because we can use them, depends on the game plan,
05:43we can use them in different positions.
05:45Just on Enzo Fernandez again, it was quite late in the day
05:48when it was confirmed, quite close to the 11 o'clock deadline.
05:51Were you ever concerned at any point that maybe the deal wasn't going to happen?
05:57I was, I think the day before the window transfer closed,
06:01we had the game palace away.
06:02So, that helps a lot, because I was quite focused on that game.
06:06But then, the day after happened, and we are all happy.
06:13Enzo, when you look at the players you've got now,
06:15and the variety of players you've got, aside from being a winning team,
06:20which is obviously what you want the most,
06:21do you think you can be great entertainers as well this season?
06:26I think when you are Manchester City, you have to compete,
06:30you have to try to win the title, or at least, as I said, compete.
06:33And we're going to try to do our best.
06:36For me now, again, I already said many times,
06:38for me now, the main focus is to see the team improving game after game.
06:43And this is the main target for me in this moment.
06:46So, as a consequence, for me, the focus now is not where we can be,
06:51I don't know, in March, April.
06:52For me, the focus is tomorrow, how we can win the game,
06:55and how we can do better.
06:56And you're the sort of manager and coach, Enzo,
06:59that aside ultimately from wanting a winning team
07:02and them playing the way you want,
07:03do you want and expect an attractive style of football as well?
07:08Is that something that really gets the fans excited?
07:12For you, is that a really important component of your team?
07:15I think all the managers, they have their own idea.
07:20At the end, it's a matter of winning games.
07:22And I like to win games in the way we want to play.
07:27And this is the important thing,
07:29not only when we have the ball,
07:30also when we don't have the ball.
07:31And this is the main thing for me.
07:34Enzo, just on your captain,
07:36you say Ruben, Erling, Mark Getty and Donnarumma.
07:41What particular qualities made you pick those four?
07:44First of all, because Mark was already captain with Palace,
07:47so he has the experience.
07:48Jijo is the captain of an international team,
07:51so he has the experience.
07:52But these are the four that they're going to be the captain.
07:56But I also, you know, I was thinking about Phil,
07:58because Phil is one of the guys from the house.
08:00He's not in that group,
08:02but for me, he's also one of the captain,
08:05one of the players that belong to that group.
08:08In terms of that group,
08:09do you sort of leave them to kind of captain the,
08:12or run the kind of dressing room
08:14where you're sort of detached from that area?
08:16Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
08:18The reason why I decided for them
08:19is because I can see them helping also the teammates
08:23and the dressing room how to behave in the right way.
08:28Hi, Enzo.
08:29Just on Fernandez again.
08:30I think a lot of people have been quite surprised
08:32by the size of the fee.
08:34125 million, that's a British record.
08:37You know him as a character.
08:39Is he the sort of person who will be affected by that?
08:41Will he not think about that?
08:42No, I, anyway, if you go a little bit in the past,
08:46I already told him many times,
08:47don't judge players on base how much the club pay for them.
08:51Not just for Chelsea, for City,
08:53for all the clubs,
08:56Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham,
08:58all the clubs.
08:59Don't judge players based on that
09:01because, for me, it's not correct.
09:06Enzo is a fantastic player.
09:08Again, it's a winner mentality.
09:09It's what we need.
09:10It's full of energy.
09:12And this is the most important thing.
09:14You brought in Ndiaye and also Alain as well.
09:21So, you've got quite sort of good strength on the wings.
09:24You've got quite a lot of players on the wings.
09:25Where do you see Phil Foden's best position, Enzo?
09:28Because he's obviously played out wide quite a bit,
09:31but he maybe wants to play in the middle.
09:32Where do you see him?
09:34I think Phil's best position is in the middle.
09:36But he's doing an effort to help the team
09:42because for the first two games,
09:46we don't have option in the wide area
09:48because Jeremy was injured.
09:50No doubt that Phil's position in the middle is much better.
09:53But I'm very, very happy with Phil since day one.
09:57He's working very good.
09:59Even when he has played wide in the last two games,
10:02he was good.
10:03You can see that inside the pitch is much better.
10:07But at the end, Phil is going to play in different positions,
10:10as we mentioned now,
10:12because he's good and good player.
10:14They can play in different positions.
10:16Hi, Enzo.
10:18I don't know if you've seen this,
10:19but over the last few days,
10:20like Fabregas,
10:21Cesc Fabregas in his press conference
10:22and Luis Enrique in his
10:23were talking about positional play
10:28as Barcelona would used to do it.
10:29It's disappeared now
10:30because you need constant movements
10:32because of man-to-man marking
10:33and things like that.
10:34I was just wondering
10:35what you think about that subject
10:37and the way that football is at the moment.
10:41I didn't see that, to be honest.
10:43I think you have to evolve.
10:47If football goes in one direction,
10:49you have to try to understand
10:50in which direction
10:51and how you can be better.
10:53Now, if positional player is disappearing,
10:57I don't know.
10:57I don't know.
10:58I think this is Luis Enrique's source.
11:03But I don't know, to be honest.
11:05In terms of evolving
11:07and the way the midfield's been completely rebuilt
11:09with the way that football is.
11:12You talked about PSG being so strong in preseason
11:15because everyone can go man-to-man.
11:17Are those kind of things
11:18what you think about
11:19when you're bringing in players this season?
11:22Obviously, you've got Enzo Fernandes,
11:23you've got Elliot Anderson
11:24who's so combative in midfield.
11:25Does that form part of it?
11:27Yeah, also.
11:28Also, for Elliot, Enzo,
11:31and Ayub,
11:32Wadi,
11:33first of all,
11:34because we knew
11:35that we need to change something.
11:39Also, because they are, you know,
11:41quite young, all of them,
11:43so full of energy.
11:46Again, no doubt,
11:47that depends a little bit
11:48on the game plan that we have,
11:49but no doubt that these three players,
11:51they're going to be main players for us.
11:53And just on Enzo Fernandes,
11:54he's changed quite a lot as a player,
11:56maybe since the World Cup
11:57when they won it,
11:59when he was still at Benfica
11:59and then going to Chelsea,
12:00he was a very deep player,
12:03quite good off the ball as well,
12:05on tackles.
12:06Over the last few years,
12:07he's moved further up the pitch.
12:08How do you see him fitting in here?
12:10How do you see his evolution
12:11as a player in Europe?
12:12Enzo can play as a six
12:14or he can play also as number eight,
12:17arriving inside the box.
12:18Depends a little bit.
12:20With us, with me at Chelsea,
12:23he scored lots of goals,
12:24arriving from second line.
12:27So, depends a little bit,
12:28we are going to use him
12:29in different positions.
12:34Just following on from that,
12:35you see Enzo kind of behind
12:37like a Ryan or a Phil in the midfield then?
12:40Again, I see Enzo as a six,
12:44a little bit more deep,
12:46as he said,
12:47or a little bit more higher,
12:48arriving in the box.
12:49Again, depends a little bit
12:50what do we need for the game
12:52and we're going to use him
12:53in different positions.
12:55And I wanted to ask,
12:56there's been so much change
12:58this summer,
12:59you replacing Pep,
13:01but then in the transfer window,
13:02the squad changing.
13:04How do you feel about that?
13:06Does that help you
13:07to have so much change?
13:09Yeah, yeah, I can see it.
13:10No, it's, you know,
13:11it's our team.
13:13It's, again,
13:15the main target now for me
13:16is to see how the players,
13:18they improve day after day,
13:20game after game.
13:21That is the most important thing.
13:23It's something that we have done
13:24in the last games,
13:26but it's just the beginning
13:28of the Premier League
13:29and we have many more games
13:31that we need to do the right things.
13:32Does it help it feel like,
13:34does it help everyone feel
13:36like it's a beginning though
13:37and it's a new chapter
13:38that there is so much
13:39kind of new faces in the squad
13:41and new energies?
13:42Yeah, the club is aware.
13:44The players,
13:45they are aware of that.
13:46And the coaching staff,
13:47we are aware that
13:49it's the beginning
13:50of a new project
13:53or, you know,
13:56something new.
13:58And, again,
13:59the most important thing
14:00when you start something
14:01is that you can see
14:02that the team is better
14:05in October than September.
14:06It's better November
14:07than October.
14:07It's what we need.
14:09Last one with Jamie.
14:11Hi, Enzo.
14:12Did you find it funny
14:13that Enzo Fernandes said
14:14that finally he's joined
14:15a big club?
14:16As if to sort of say
14:16Chelsea,
14:17so like a small,
14:18tiny club.
14:21No, I think Enzo Fernandes,
14:22he was already in a big club
14:24like Chelsea
14:25and he's happy
14:26to be with us now.
14:28Joined a bigger club, maybe?
14:29Say again?
14:30Has he joined a bigger club
14:31in City?
14:33I mean...
14:33Has he joined a bigger club?
14:35Is City sort of
14:36a bigger club than Chelsea?
14:38Again,
14:39same answer.
14:40I think Chelsea
14:41is a big club
14:41and City is a big club.
14:42Just with regard
14:43to him on the pitch,
14:45will he add some sort
14:45of streetwiseness
14:46to your play?
14:47If you understand
14:48what I mean?
14:48Streetwise,
14:48sort of a bit of...
14:50I don't know
14:50how you want to say it,
14:51really.
14:51You know,
14:52a bit of guy
14:53or a bit of...
14:53I don't know
14:54if it's streetwise,
14:56but for sure,
14:57again,
14:58he knows how to win.
15:00And when you want
15:01to compete
15:01or you want to win,
15:03it's much more important
15:04when you have players
15:05that they know
15:06already how to do that
15:07than players
15:08that never done
15:08in the past.
15:09Again,
15:10answer is not
15:10the only one.
15:11This squad
15:12has many players
15:13that they know
15:14how to win titles,
15:16how to compete,
15:16and this is what
15:17we were looking for.
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