Manchester City recorded their first pre-season victory under Enzo Maresca with a 3-1 win over the K-League All-Stars in Seoul, a performance the new head coach viewed as early evidence that his methods are being absorbed.
Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Divin Mubama scored in the opening half, while Kim Dae-won briefly brought the Korean side level. City had previously drawn with Inter before losing a shoot-out, making the result a first win rather than an unbeaten start to Maresca's tenure.
The match was played in intense heat, but Maresca highlighted the collective application of his players rather than treating the scoreline as the main takeaway. According to reports, he felt City improved in several areas from their previous outing and was encouraged by the willingness of the group to implement work done in training.
Signs of a changing City structure
Phil Foden has also indicated that the adjustments under Maresca are noticeable. The midfielder, who spent his entire senior City career under Pep Guardiola, described the new regime as a welcome reset after a single-manager club experience lasting almost a decade.
Foden did not offer a full tactical breakdown, but pointed to altered defensive organisation, new routes for building from the back and a broader set of options in possession. That description suggests evolution rather than a complete break from City's recent identity. A squad long accustomed to controlling matches through the ball is being asked to retain those instincts while responding to different positional demands.
The Seoul display offered some support for that assessment. City generated 22 attempts, with 13 on target, and recorded 2.7 expected goals. Their opponents managed six shots, only one of which tested the goalkeeper, and accumulated 0.4 expected goals. Pre-season figures require caution, particularly against an assembled All-Star side, but the gap in chance creation and territorial control was substantial.
Reijnders' goal was especially illustrative of the attacking fluency City are seeking. Antoine Semenyo created the opportunity with an improvised back-heel and Reijnders finished first time, a move combining quick interplay with a late midfield arrival. Ait-Nouri and Mubama also found the net from a side featuring established senior players alongside younger options.
Foden's role and a new reference point
Foden's comments carry particular weight because of his connection to the previous era. He made 369 appearances under Guardiola, a total surpassed among City players only by Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Ederson. His adaptation is therefore likely to be an important marker of how smoothly the managerial transition progresses.
The 26-year-old returned 13 goals and eight assists in all competitions last season. That was an improvement on the prior campaign, although below the production he delivered across the preceding four years. Maresca will want Foden's technical quality and experience to become central to the revised attacking framework, especially while a number of international players have yet to rejoin the group.
Foden said there had not yet been detailed conversations about his individual position. Instead, he understood that his immediate responsibility was to set standards for younger members of the touring squad through his training and work rate. That is a notable shift in emphasis: he is no longer simply one of the academy success stories within Guardiola's established machine, but one of the players expected to provide continuity during a transition.
Absentees shape the early picture
Maresca has stressed that the current squad is incomplete. Erling Haaland, Rodri, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Nico O'Reilly and Elliot Anderson were among those still absent, according to reports. Their eventual return will increase competition and give the coach more information about how his preferred system functions with the full group available.
Anderson's integration may be particularly relevant to Foden. Foden has spoken positively about the former Nottingham Forest player's ability to locate advanced midfielders and pass through defensive lines, qualities which could complement a player operating between the opposition's midfield and defence.
There is also a balance to be found between immediate tactical implementation and the physical realities of a disrupted summer. City had significant international representation, and Maresca is working with a mixture of players at different stages of readiness. The emphasis on effort in Seoul reflects that context: intensity, concentration and positional understanding may be more meaningful at this stage than a polished final product.
Encouragement, not conclusions
The early messages from Maresca and Foden are aligned. Both see players responding to fresh coaching, and both suggest the changes are compatible with the technical profile already embedded at the club. The win in Seoul provided visible encouragement, from the volume of chances created to the attacking combinations behind Mubama.
Still, the significance of the performance lies less in a friendly result than in the foundations it revealed. Maresca inherits a club accustomed to sustained success but entering a new managerial chapter. His challenge is to preserve City's ability to dominate possession and create high-quality opportunities while making the team recognisably his own.
For now, the evidence is limited but positive: a short-handed group produced a controlled win in demanding conditions, and senior figures appear receptive to the new direction. The more meaningful test will be whether that early willingness remains once the returning internationals are integrated and Maresca's ideas must function across the whole squad.