Maresca backs Anderson over ‘kings of Manchester’ dig before derby clash

Enzo Maresca has backed Elliot Anderson’s assessment that Manchester City are the “kings of Manchester” as he prepares for his first derby in charge of the club.

City travel to Old Trafford on Sunday seeking to continue their perfect start to life under Maresca and further prove Anderson’s point. The 23-year-old midfielder made his claim upon signing from Nottingham Forest for £116m in the summer and having witnessed from afar City win eight Premier League titles during the past 14 years, compared with United’s one.

“I think Manchester City was unbelievable what they achieved. It’s normal when Elliot said that,” said Maresca. “If you go back it’s a different picture, but for me the reason he said that is because when he grew up Manchester City was dominant.”

Michael Carrick refused to accept Anderson’s claim when speaking after United’s Champions League win against Sabah on Thursday night. “I’m definitely not using that phrase at all,” he said. “We’re humble enough and realistic enough to know where we’ve come from in recent history, and we need to and want to be better, and we want to be challenging more. So, that’s where we’re at. It doesn’t mean that we can’t and we won’t. It means we still hope, we believe, and we expect that we can be and we should be. But I understand the bigger picture.”

Carrick also suggested the short turnaround afforded to United from playing Sabah to facing City was “not ideal”, especially given City had a further two days to prepare for the fixture, having beaten Porto away on Tuesday. Pep Guardiola was often vocal on the subject of fixture scheduling but Maresca has taken it more in his stride and offered little sympathy to his opposite number. “To be honest, the club mentioned to me that it happened exactly the same last year when the club played Napoli and then after two days played Arsenal,” he said.

“Sometimes it happens in football. I don’t have any doubt that Man United are going to be ready for that. It just matters to adapt. I think that happens and you need to adapt. It happened last year with us, this season with them, next season it will happen with a different team.”

Maresca will welcome back Nico O’Reilly after the midfielder was a late withdrawal from the win over Coventry last week and missed the trip to Portugal with a back problem, but Jérémy Doku is not fit to return from a calf injury picked up in the Community Shield defeat by Arsenal.

Across his career as a player and coach, Maresca has been involved in some of the game’s biggest rivalries, enjoying the Manchester derby as part of Guardiola’s backroom staff. “I promise you the worst one is Olympiakos-Panathinaikos [in Athens]. That is very hot,” Maresca said. “I think they [derbies] are all special games for everyone. For the fans, first of all, for the club, for the players, for the coaching staff.”