Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca firmly hit back at a reporter who questioned his disciplinary record at Chelsea, accusing the journalist of lacking information during a feisty press conference exchange. Speaking ahead of City's home encounter with Brighton, the Italian addressed his recent habit of making early substitutions for players carrying yellow cards, having overseen 22 cards across 14 fixtures this season. Maresca maintained that discipline was not the sole reason for his decisions, explaining: "Sometimes it has been because I didn't like what I saw, so I changed."
The pattern had emerged directly across City's previous two fixtures. During Wednesday night's Carabao Cup victory over Brighton, Ayyoub Bouaddi received a yellow card in the 32nd minute and was subsequently replaced for the second half. A similar scenario occurred during Saturday's Premier League defeat at Aston Villa, where both Marc Guehi and Rayan Cherki picked up first-half bookings before being withdrawn at the interval.
The discussion prompted a reporter to ask whether the high volume of dismissals at Chelsea last season was a significant issue for that squad, sparking an argumentative response from the City boss. "When I was there, or when I left?" Maresca countered. When the reporter specified his active tenure, Maresca remarked: "And when I left. You lack information. When I was there, and when I left." Asked once more if he believed it was an issue, Maresca concluded: "I don't think so."
During Maresca's 28 games in charge of Chelsea last season prior to his New Year's Day departure, six different players were dismissed: Robert Sanchez, Trevoh Chalobah, Joao Pedro, Malo Gusto, Liam Delap, and Moises Caicedo. Following a breakdown in relations, Calum McFarlane took interim charge twice on either side of Liam Rosenior's brief tenure, during which Chelsea collected four more dismissals through Marc Cucurella, Pedro Neto, and two red cards for Wesley Fofana, reaching 10 across all competitions with eight coming in the Premier League. Chelsea later released a pointed statement on the day Maresca joined City, noting that their former head coach's ambition to replace Pep Guardiola had disrupted what became a poor campaign.