{"id":13394,"date":"2026-08-03T11:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/?p=13394"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:58:24","slug":"antoine-semenyo-relishing-enzo-marescas-tactical-shift-at-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/03\/antoine-semenyo-relishing-enzo-marescas-tactical-shift-at-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Antoine Semenyo Relishing Enzo Maresca&#8217;s Tactical Shift at Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Antoine Semenyo has described Enzo Maresca\u2019s tactical instructions as \u201cmusic to my ears\u201d following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mancity.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/01\/real-madrid-close-to-yan-diomande-signing-as-summer-restructure-takes-shape\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Real Madrid Close to Yan Diomande Signing as Summer Restructure Takes Shape\">Manchester City<\/a><\/a>\u2019s pre-season opener against <a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/01\/cristian-romero-transfer-stalls-as-inter-wage-dispute-opens-door-for-la-liga-clubs\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Cristian Romero Transfer Stalls as Inter Wage Dispute Opens Door for La Liga Clubs\">Inter Milan<\/a> in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian head coach took charge of City for the first time in a match that ended in a penalty shootout defeat, but his emphasis on direct wing play was immediately evident. Semenyo, starting on the flank, set up Divin Mubama\u2019s goal after repeatedly beating Inter full-back Andy Diouf before being withdrawn at half-time.<\/p>\n<p>Teenage winger Ryan McAidoo also featured from the bench, with Maresca later confirming both players fit the profile of wide men he intends to deploy this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen he got appointed, that was the first thing I thought about because when you\u2019ve played Chelsea previously when he was there, his wide men were always high and quite free,\u201d Semenyo said. \u201cSo that was one of the things that excited me the most when he got appointed and it\u2019s exciting for me as a winger. I get to have one-v-one situations most of the game and I am looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Semenyo revealed he has held individual tactical meetings with Maresca since the manager&#8217;s arrival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think his ideas are great, quite similar to Pep, but if you watched the Inter game, you would have seen a couple of his ideas play out and it was good,\u201d Semenyo said. \u201cEnzo is just [telling me to] stay out wide and when you get the ball, just create opportunities. So it is music to my ears.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Ghana international arrived at the Etihad Stadium in January following a \u00a365 million move from <a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/02\/chelsea-prepare-70m-bid-for-bournemouth-midfielder-alex-scott\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Chelsea Prepare \u00a370m Bid for Bournemouth Midfielder Alex Scott\">Bournemouth<\/a>, choosing City despite interest from Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester United.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on his departure from the South Coast, Semenyo said: \u201cI owe Bournemouth everything to be honest. They helped my Premier League career flourish and the management, the staff behind the scenes, they were all amazing and made everything so smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that former manager Pep Guardiola played a pivotal role in his decision to move mid-season. \u201cPep spoke to me beforehand and he said, \u2018Look, when you come, I am going to make you a better player\u2019. You want to get better, you want to improve every season and he definitely helped me with that in the first five months, but obviously it\u2019s sad for him to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Semenyo scored 21 goals for club and country during the campaign, including the winning goal in Manchester City\u2019s FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea, alongside winning the Carabao Cup.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-news-box\">\n<h3 class=\"related-news-title\">Read also:<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"related_news_list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/03\/manchester-united-target-arsenal-midfielder-myles-lewis-skelly-in-summer-transfer-window\/\">Manchester United Target Arsenal Midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly in Summer Transfer Window<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/03\/bayern-munich-retain-interest-in-manchester-united-striker-benjamin-sesko\/\">Bayern Munich Retain Interest in Manchester United Striker Benjamin Sesko<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/03\/leeds-stun-liverpool-with-four-second-half-goals-in-chicago-friendly\/\">Leeds Stun Liverpool with Four Second-Half Goals in Chicago Friendly<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Antoine Semenyo has described Enzo Maresca\u2019s tactical instructions as \u201cmusic to my ears\u201d following Manchester City\u2019s pre-season opener against Inter Milan in Hong Kong. The Italian head coach took charge of City for the first time in a match that ended in a penalty shootout defeat, but his emphasis on direct wing play was immediately &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16051,338,1432,15450,345,11818,333,16052],"class_list":["post-13394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-andy-diouf","tag-antoine-semenyo","tag-bournemouth","tag-divin-mubama","tag-enzo-maresca","tag-inter-milan","tag-manchester-city","tag-ryan-mcaidoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13397,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13394\/revisions\/13397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}