Nottingham Forest defeated Manchester City 3-1 on Saturday afternoon to secure their first home Premier League victory of the season. City were second, six points behind leaders Arsenal, while Forest were 16th and two points clear of the relegation zone. Arsenal had beaten Hull 1-0 earlier on Saturday.
The goals
Liam Delap scored twice for Nottingham Forest, while Jair Cunha also scored. Rayan Cherki scored for Manchester City.
Forest led 2-0 at half-time. Delap scored again after Cherki had reduced the deficit.
Maresca on the performance
Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca said: “First half when you don't match intensity and lose all the duels it's difficult. Then when we want to react, it's too late. In this kind of match, you need to match intensity and win duels, otherwise it's always complicated. First half we were not good enough in terms of duels, second balls - we lost all of them. Then when we went to react we were 2-0 down and in football that is always complicated.”
Maresca said: “The first goal we are trying to play, build. The second one we lost duels in the middle of the pitch then the third one we lost the duel at the edge of their box. We need to match intensity in these kind of games.”
The half-time changes
Maresca said: “Guehi asked for a change because of injury - he had a problem in the first half. Gvardiol also during the week had a small issue. First half we were not good enough, we did not match what this kind of game requires.”
City's run and fixtures
Maresca said: “It's football. We won the first seven in a row and that's never happened and now we've lost three in a row - it's football. We have to try to be better game after game.”
Manchester City are scheduled to play Fulham at home on 21 November and Napoli at home in the Champions League on 24 November, before playing Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 29 November.
When asked if the group was still in a development phase, Maresca said: “Absolutely - I didn't know them before and now it's three or four months that we are together. I think they need to know me and I need to know them. It's a learning journey. We know what we do well but we need to understand what we are not doing well and try to improve it.”
