Enzo Maresca ‘points finger’ at two players as Man City warned they have a problem

Tony Cascarino believes Enzo Maresca faces a mentality issue with his Manchester City side – the players aren’t coping with challenges. The Citizens dreadful run continued on Saturday night, as they were beaten 3-1 by strugglers Nottingham Forest to condemn them to a third straight Premier League defeat. It proved a nightmare evening for City, who fell behind after just six minutes when Jair Cunha struck at the City Ground. Academy graduate Liam Delap then scored twice to seal the points for Forest and move them out of the relegation zone, while the result dealt a huge blow to City’s title hopes. With Arsenal moving six points clear at the top of the table with victory over Hull , defeat saw Maresca’s side fail to close the gap. Having begun the season with seven straight wins, City have come crashing down to earth in recent weeks – also succumbing to Aston Villa and Brighton before Forest. City problems laid bare More worrying for Man City is the manner of their defeats, with Maresca’s side guilty of costly individual errors in the loss to Forest. Josko Gvardiol was dispossessed for the first goal, while Marc Guehi failed to put Delap under any real pressure as he ran through the visitors’ backline to score the second. Both players were substituted at half-time, although Maresca later confirmed this was due to them picking up knocks. However, talkSPORT’s Cascarino believes the Italian made an example of the pair by taking them off, and highlighted City’s inability to cope with challenges is a major concern. Discussing their poor run on the Weekend Sports Breakfast , he said: “What’s gone wrong is the biggest issue for me. “And it’s quite clear that when a manager makes two substitutions after 45 minutes, [Josko] Gvardiol and also Marc Guehi, who have come off at 46 minutes, he’s pointing the finger totally at them. “Now, for the first goal, I don’t think Marc Guehi’s ball is a great one into Gvardiol. And when he loses the ball, you’d expect a player of City’s quality to be able to handle that situation. “They defended awfully. They were awful yesterday defensively. And I’m not excluding [Ruben] Dias out of this as well. Didn’t play well. “And there were others. And they look like a team to me that there’s a real lack of belief.” Cascarino also insisted City’s current issues have been on show for longer than most realise, despite their flawless start to the season. He reminded listeners of their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield, claiming it highlighted the gulf between them and the Premier League champions . He continued: “This great start they had… I mean, when I was at Community Shield, now people might think of this as, ‘Well, it’s Community Shield and people aren’t ready’. “They were awful in that Community Shield. They got beat 3-0 by Arsenal. And they were awful. They were second best everywhere. “And I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that City team, even in years gone by, when they played at the Community Shield, they were always pretty decent.’ “They might not win it every year, but they were always a pretty decent side. They started on the back foot and then got going, and they showed their quality.” Rounding off, Cascarino labelled City a team in disarray, making reference to Gianluigi Donnarumma’s questionable display in the midweek victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League. He went on: “Yesterday, if you’re looking at a team that is all over the place, and that includes the goalkeeper as well, Man City are there for the taking at the moment. It’s quite obvious. “What Brighton did last week to them – and beating them, and also being knocked out in the Cup, even though they lost on penalties – they’ve done enough to show that they’re a way better team for me than City are at the moment.”