Three weeks ago, City headed into the international break in about as healthy a position as Enzo Maresca could have hoped for.
Five Premier League wins from five had put City three points clear at the top, while seven consecutive victories in all competitions suggested the transition from Pep Guardiola to Maresca was gathering pace remarkably quickly.
The landscape looks rather different now. City’s players have spent much of the past three weeks scattered around the world, the independent commission has delivered its verdict in the club’s Premier League case, and Liverpool await at Anfield on Sunday.
Maresca’s immediate challenge is to make sure an unusually long and eventful break hasn’t interrupted what his team were building.
City had momentum before the break
The 5-3 victory over Sunderland wasn’t perfect, but it provided another example of why City’s opening weeks under Maresca had been so encouraging.
They conceded three times but still found enough attacking quality to win, with the midfield beginning to look increasingly suited to what the new manager wanted. Erling Haaland also remained at the centre of a side carrying more attacking variety than it had shown during difficult periods last season.
Manchester City were winning while still looking some distance from the finished article.
That remains useful context as the domestic season resumes. Five league games is a small sample and City still have defensive questions to answer, but Maresca established momentum far more quickly than might reasonably have been expected after such a significant managerial change.
The international break has given him little opportunity to develop that work on the training ground. City sent a large contingent away and several have faced particularly busy schedules.
Haaland played significant minutes for Norway before being substituted against Portugal, with Stale Solbakken making clear afterwards that the striker was exhausted rather than injured. Nico O’Reilly has been less fortunate, withdrawing from England duty and returning to City for assessment. His condition will need to be monitored as attention turns towards Liverpool.
Maresca returns to a very different backdrop
The biggest change during the break has happened away from the pitch.
City were found guilty on 114 of the 115 charges considered by the Premier League’s independent commission. The club disputes those findings and has formally appealed, maintaining that the commission’s opinion contains material errors of law, principle and fact. The findings therefore remain subject to City’s challenge through the Premier League’s appeals process.
Maresca is reportedly due to address his players when the international contingent returns to Manchester. His task will be to keep the football separate from an off-field process over which neither he nor his squad has any control.
There have been positives during the break as well. Rico Lewis’ promotion from England Under-21 duty into Thomas Tuchel’s senior squad is another sign of his progress, while several of Maresca’s established internationals have accumulated useful minutes.
The more immediate question is how quickly they can switch back into club mode.
Liverpool will tell us rather more
Anfield provides an awkward place to discover whether three weeks apart has disrupted City’s rhythm. Some internationals don’t complete their programmes until Tuesday night, leaving Maresca with a relatively short period to assess workloads and fitness before deciding how closely he can return to the side that carried City through the opening weeks.
Liverpool therefore represents their biggest examination of the season so far.
City have already shown that they can score heavily, recover from difficult periods in matches and find different routes to victory. What they haven’t yet had to demonstrate under Maresca is whether they can immediately reproduce that level after a lengthy interruption.
The international break itself shouldn’t be used as an excuse. Other leading Premier League clubs have faced similar disruption and City have a squad built to cope with international demands. Maresca’s circumstances have nevertheless changed considerably since his players dispersed.
City went into the break top of the Premier League, seven wins into a perfect start and with their new manager’s ideas beginning to take hold. They emerged with an appeal underway, a handful of fitness and workload questions to resolve and one of the most difficult away fixtures of the season immediately ahead of them.
Sunday should provide the clearest indication yet of just how firmly Maresca’s early progress has taken hold.
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