"I think it's correct that you see these kind of players that they start to be tired," Maresca said at the Dragao Stadium before Tuesday's match. Manchester City’s manager Enzo Maresca (C) coaches the team during the open training ahead of their friendly football match against Inter Milan for the Asahi Super Dry Trophy at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on July 31, 2026. (Photo by May JAMES / AFP)Manchester City coach Enzo Maresca said on Monday finding form early in the season "was not easy" for his World Cup players ahead of the club's Champions League opener at Porto."I think it's correct that you see these kind of players that they start to be tired," Maresca said at the Dragao Stadium before Tuesday's match.Maresca was responding to remarks by Erling Haaland posted on the striker's his YouTube channel earlier in the day.The Norwegian has three goals in three league matches but did not play in warm up games, following Norway's run to the World Cup quarterfinals."The new season started and I didn't even have a pre-season. I normally have a bit of pre-season but this time, just nothing," said Haaland."The physical side will come, if you manage to stay injury free, but you need to be sharp mentally as well, and that's not easy."We need to have that eager feeling to go back but we don't because there is no time to properly stay away from football because there are so many games an...
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