Enzo Maresca says City lost the duels first at Forest

Enzo Maresca did not need much time to explain Manchester City's 1-3 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. The issue, in his view, started before the break, when City were outworked in the duels and second balls and only tried to recover after the game had already slipped away.

City were beaten in the first half

"I will speak quite clearly. In the first half when you do not match the intensity and lose all the duels, it is difficult. Then we want to react but it is too late," Maresca said after the match.

That line fits the game City actually played. They were not good enough in the first half, and Maresca was blunt enough to say they lost all the duels and second balls. By the time they tried to push back, they were already 2-0 down.

The defeat was City's third successive Premier League loss, and it left them six points adrift in the title race heading into the international break. Their league form now reads three straight defeats before the brief recovery that came before this result.

The defensive rotation still looks unsettled

Maresca was also forced into a double half-time defensive change, replacing Joško Gvardiol and Marc Guéhi with Nico O'Reilly and Matheus Nunes. He said both defenders asked to come off because of injury problems, with Gvardiol already carrying issues during the week.

That came after another evening in which City changed the back line again. Maresca had fielded four different back fours in the last four Premier League games, and the last time he used the same defence in successive matches was for the wins at Porto and Manchester United in September.

The rotation is not a small detail. City have conceded 13 league goals already, and they have now gone nine games without a clean sheet in all competitions. Some reports put that run at eight, but the wider picture from this result is the same: the defensive unit is still not settled enough to survive a poor first half against a side that fought harder.

Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City also offered a reminder of how quickly momentum can turn. Liam Delap was the standout performer, while City's own response came only after they had already been dragged into damage limitation.

They do not play again until Fulham visit on 21 November, and Maresca will spend the break with a back line that still needs a cleaner answer than the one it gave at Forest.