Enzo Maresca gets Rayan Cherki wrong again as stats expose Man City issue

Rayan Cherki was not able to effectively influence Manchester City's game against Aston Villa.

The French attacking midfielder has shown his quality in the Premier League this season on a number of occasions.

But whether it was due to him having a yellow card by half-time, or simply a tactical change, Enzo Maresca opted to take him off at the break.

That decision may ultimately have weakened the Citizens despite fresh legs coming on.

Patterns have shown that Cherki becomes increasingly dangerous as the game ticks on.

And Maresca continues to make the same error over and over again.

Rayan Cherki thrives on growing into the game.

Cherki may not always start games particularly well, but the Frenchman has repeatedly shown that he can grow into a match as it progresses.

Across this season, the Frenchman has picked up eight goal contributions in all competitions.

Interestingly, six of those eight have all come in the second half of matches.

And that is exactly why Maresca's decision deserves to be scrutinised.

If Maresca wanted a player to make a difference against Aston Villa, keeping the midfielder on the pitch was the best option available.

Cherki has far too often been the subject of an early withdrawal as well at City this season. In four of 11 competitive appearances, he was taken off at half-time.

The evidence does show that the Man City manager may in fact continuously be making the same mistake over and over.

There will inevitably be occasions when Cherki struggles to impose himself, and no player should be immune from being substituted when their performance warrants it.

However, his record of second-half contributions suggests that patience can pay off.

Cherki's numbers show why Man City cannot afford to waste his talent

Even though Cherki was brought off at half-time, his statistics against Aston Villa were still some of the best.

He had the third-highest xG with 0.39, with only Josko Gvardiol (0.45) and Erling Haaland (0.4) above him, as per FotMob.

Additionally, only Elliott Anderson created more chances for the Manchester side than the Frenchman.

Overall, the 23-year-old was seemingly having an impact, and if the trend of him becoming more influential as games grow is true, he certainly could have made a difference later on at Villa Park.