Enzo Maresca admitted City made life too easy for Sunderland defensively despite extending their perfect Premier League start with a remarkable 5-3 victory.
City moved three points clear at the top of the table after making it five league wins from five, with Antoine Semenyo scoring twice alongside goals from Enzo Fernandez, Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland.
Brian Brobbey’s hat-trick ensured it was anything but comfortable, however, and Maresca made clear afterwards that an eight-goal thriller was not his preferred way of winning.
“To be honest, I prefer to win 1-0 than 5-3,” he said. “I expected a very difficult game.”
Maresca had warned before kick-off that Sunderland would provide a serious test and felt that had been borne out. He pointed to their aggression without the ball and Brobbey’s threat as two of the reasons City found the afternoon so difficult.
Maresca unhappy with Man City defending
The City boss was particularly frustrated by the manner in which two of Sunderland’s goals arrived.
“I’m always concerned. I’m always trying to see what we can do better,” Maresca said. “For sure, two of the three goals that we conceded, they have been too easy.”
Maresca highlighted Sunderland taking a quick free-kick in the build-up to their second goal and another free-kick preceding the third. Both were situations he felt City should have dealt with better.
There were opportunities at the other end too. Maresca believed City could have scored another “two or three” goals on top of the five they managed, which says plenty about how open the game became.
Maresca welcomes different tests for Man City
There was more satisfaction when Maresca looked beyond the defensive mistakes.
City have played seven competitive matches under him and the manager believes the variety of problems they have encountered is proving useful. The Manchester derby required his side to play for more than an hour with ten men, while Sunderland presented a very different challenge.
“The good thing also is that these seven official games that we played, they have been all different,” he said. “We experienced different things.”
City again found a way through this one, despite Sunderland refusing to disappear from the contest.
Five Premier League matches have brought 15 points and a three-point lead heading into the international break. Maresca will happily take that, even if he would have preferred 1-0 to 5-3.
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