'Not easy for Haaland': Maresca on World Cup players' early season fatigue

Manchester City head coach Enzo Maresca acknowledged on Monday, that finding form early in the season has proven difficult for players who featured at this year's World Cup, speaking ahead of the club's Champions League opener against 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 the day before Tuesday's fixture.

His comments came in direct response to remarks made earlier by striker Erling Haaland on his own YouTube channel.

The Norwegian has scored three goals in three league matches so far this season, despite missing all of the club's pre-season warm up games following Norway's run to the World Cup quarter finals.

Haaland described the lack of a proper break as a significant challenge. "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," he said.

He also touched on the mental strain that comes with an already congested calendar.

"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 and the season is longer," he said.

Despite the difficulty, Haaland was careful to frame his comments as gratitude rather than complaint.

"I'm not complaining because it's still a positive thing that you get to play football throughout the whole year and live off it. But sometimes we need a break as well. I never played a World Cup so I don't know how it is," he added.

Maresca offered clear sympathy for players in Haaland's position, acknowledging the broader challenge facing squads with heavy international commitments.

"It's not easy for them, it's not easy for Erling, it's not easy for most of the players that they continue to play for their international team," he said.

The Italian coach also suggested he would be open to managing player workloads carefully as the season progresses, without committing to any fixed approach.

"It's correct to give them some rest that can be one game out or can be one week away, depends a little bit in which moment we are," he said.

Maresca preferred to focus on short term progress rather than longer term ambitions given the demands already facing his squad.

"To be focused on the day by day makes it very complicated to think where we can be in February, March, April in terms of expectation. The most important thing is to see that we are improving game after game," he said.