Photo: Ank kumar / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
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Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca expressed satisfaction with the threat posed by his wide players after a 3-1 victory over Atletico Madrid rounded off the club's pre-season tour of Asia.
Antoine Semenyo was the standout performer, providing both assists for Omar Marmoush after City had fallen behind. Rayan Ait-Nouri came off the bench to seal the win, while Savinho was also a consistent threat on the opposite flank.
"Overall, [today was] a very good test against one of the best teams in Europe," Maresca said after the game. "Credit to the players for the effort they have done. From tomorrow pre-season is finished and the real business starts."
Semenyo finished the three-game tour — which took in Hong Kong and South Korea — with four assists, and Maresca identified the winger's ability to create imbalance in one-on-one situations as a key requirement.
"I think [wingers] can play well, but the end product is the most important thing," the Italian said. "But for sure you need a player out wide who can create unbalance, especially when they go one v one."
Maresca acknowledged that City's inability to convert first-half chances had been the key issue before the interval, and made his message clear at the break.
"We could not create the amount of situations we did and not finish the action," he said. "There we need to be clinical — it's something we need to improve. Slowly we are getting there and with Erling [Haaland] we can be even more dangerous. Today Omar scored twice — this is a boost — and yes I am happy with that."
The City manager said he was encouraged by the players' willingness to adapt to his methods across all three tour fixtures.
"I'm very happy. Especially because the players since we started have been open-minded," Maresca added. "I know that when you join a new club you try to install new patterns or different ideas — the most important thing is we are getting better."