"6 defenders against the mighty Bournemouth" - Fans react as City announce first lineup of Premier League season

Manchester City have announced their lineup for the Premier League opener against Bournemouth as fans are dissatisfied with the selection.

The post-Pep Guardiola era began with a 3-0 loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield last Sunday and the Sky Blues are now aiming get back on track here with a winning start in the league.

Gianluigi Donnarumma takes his place between the sticks but Abdukodir Khusanov has emerged a surprise starter tonight. Ruben Dias, Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol join him in the back-four.

Club record signing Elliot Anderson is making his league debut for club, getting paired with Rico Lewis in a deeper role, while Phil Foden, Nico O'Reilly and Antoine Semenyo play off lone striker Erling Haaland.

Fans however, aren't convinced with Enzo Maresca's selection for his first league game as the City manager, and took to X to make their feelings known.

One verified X user sarcastically wrote:

"6 defenders against the mighty Bournemouth. Peak Marescaball."

The sentiment was echoed by another user, as they tweeted:

"Why is he playing 6 defenders at home? 😂

Arteta really made him shit his pants"

Another supposedly City fan questioned Maresca on this particular selection:

"Rico Lewis when we have Gonzalez and cherki?? This man needs to be kicked out"

This user wasn't happy to see Khusanov start tonight:

"Against a very physical and pacy team like Bournemouth last season we even struggled with Rodri.. maybe Maresca knows something we don’t know. Khusanov for Nunes? Why .. Enzo should not shoot himself in the foot. Arsenal game exposed the mistakes. Here we go again"

Rayan Cherki being left on the bench was questioned by this fan too:

"Maresca is as clueless as Pep in his last two seasons 🥲

Imagine benching Cherki to start Fodem in big 2026

Don't even get started about Rico Lewis"

Another fan gave a scathing assessment of today's lineup:

"According to the bald fraud Maresca Foden and Nico O Reilly are better in the attacking and creating role than Cherki

Rico Lewis and Kovacic are ahead of Nico Gonzales in the DM role.
Wow wow wow
He is taking us to Conference League"

One X user was bamboozled with Maresca's supposed 'experiments':

"This guy thinks he is Pep.
He is closer to Ten Hang
It doesn’t take a coaching degree to understand Nico is the only natural holding midfielder you have.
What’s with these weird experiments"

Another X user asked:

"How are you benching Nico and Cherki - don’t you want to start your city career with a win?"

This user proffered an alternative lineup:

"Kovacic would have been better instead of rico lewis,nico o reily should have been LB,Guehi should have rested,Cherki should be playing."

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