Man City: Rodri is the key to Maresca's success

One of the most important things for Enzo Maresca is whether to continue maintaining Man City's playing identity with Rodri as the focal point or to enter a new phase without the Spanish midfielder.

The 46-year-old coach is one of the biggest advocates of positional play philosophy in the world, demanding to impose the game by continuously circulating the ball at short distances to stretch the opponent's formation. Rodri, wherever he is, always holds the key to executing any tactic.

Maresca has never needed Rodri

Precisely, the Italian tactician worked with Rodri during the season the Citizens won the treble as Pep Guardiola's assistant. At that time, he and his mentor devised the solution of pushing John Stones from center-back into midfield to reduce the defensive burden for the number 16.

In his subsequent managerial career, Maresca has never coached a midfielder who can play as a holding midfielder with similar class. But this highlights the 46-year-old coach's ability to achieve success without such a brain.

When Leicester won the Championship in 2024, the Italian coach used Harry Winks at the base of midfield with the task of purely regulating play from deep. The English midfielder has good short-passing skills but is not a tactical brain, nor does he possess game-reading or attacking play development abilities. He also relied heavily on full-back Ricardo Pereira to bolster physical battles.

In over a season in charge of Chelsea, Maresca combined Caicedo's strength with Enzo Fernandez's intelligence to bring balance to the Blues. The Ecuadorian midfielder is an excellent physical ball-winner, but his tactical vision and ball progression are average. Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez is creative but not strong in defensive cover from distance.

To operate his favorite 3-2-2-3 formation, the 46-year-old coach even came up with an unusual innovation, pushing Caicedo to play as a full-back when defending in a 4-man defense, then when attacking returning to the 3-2-2-3, Caicedo would move from right-back to defensive midfield. This ensured balance and avoided stepping into the spaces of Enzo and Palmer.

If not for Rodri, Maresca already has Elliot Anderson, who operates independently in the holding midfield role without needing support to dictate the tempo of the match, with a total of 54 chances created last season, 9 big chances, and an expected assists of 4.8 per 90 minutes.

Even the number of progressive passes per 90 minutes last season by the 23-year-old midfielder was slightly higher than Rodri's. This is why Maresca sees him as a new symbol of Man City.

... And with Rodri

Although accustomed to having to use talented but "unorthodox" midfielders, possessing a complete Rodri with all the understanding and ability to execute any tactic is a privilege for the 46-year-old coach to continue Pep Guardiola's legacy and not disrupt Man City's current playing habits.

The 30-year-old midfielder's ability to control and shape the game is the best in the world, and he was the foundation for Spain to win the 2026 World Cup. This was also evident at the Etihad many years earlier.

Any statistic proves that number 16 is the king of soft power on the pitch, but he creates even more tactically. Maresca's philosophy demands perfection in spatial awareness and ball-handling technique. Meanwhile, the Spanish midfielder is one of the rare players in the world who meets all the stringent football requirements.

If he is already the best midfielder for the most demanding and perfect coach in the world like Pep Guardiola, naturally he will be the key in Maresca's philosophy. In the past, Maresca always had to rack his brains to find a formula to use the strengths of one midfielder to compensate for the weaknesses of another. Having a star with no tactical weaknesses like Rodri is like an architect receiving the most perfect materials to build his project. That is why the Italian tactician will have to keep Rodri because he has been "shaken" when Real knocks on the door of the Etihad.