Manchester City begins Champions League campaign under Maresca with deep squad and tactical flexibility

There is something almost ostentatious about Manchester City's season of transition, their summer essentially a hard launch of a new look now that Pep Guardiola has left the touchline and Rodri is holding court elsewhere. They spent nearly $600 million on transfer fees, the vast majority of which went towards a very expensive midfielder stockpiling project headlined by Enzo Fernandez's $169 million move from Chelsea on deadline day. There is an argument that finding room for City's many high-profile talents might be burdensome for Enzo Maresca but as the team begins to manage the load of domestic and continental competition, the player-hoarding exercise that defined their summer might be a strength rather than a weakness.

City open their UEFA Champions League campaign at Porto on Tuesday and do so with a deep roster, one that offers Maresca a variety of options and plenty of players to rotate through as midweek matches begin to fill up their calendar. New signing Elliot Anderson has started at the base of City's midfield for each of their opening three games but Maresca has otherwise changed things up, seemingly intent on introducing new variations of the team depending on the circumstances. Nico O'Reilly and Rayan Cherki have two starts each in City's midfield this season, while deadline day arrivals Fernandez and Iliman Ndiaye got the nod on Saturday in a 1-0 win over Coventry City as the coach tinkers with ways to connect the midfield and attack.

For now, City are unpredictable by design. Maresca's assessment of Anderson's talents underlines the vision he has for his team – he may be a constant thus far but his wide-ranging skillset means the coach has options, many of which he plans to use.

How to watch Porto vs. Manchester City, odds

Date: Tuesday, Sept. 8 | Time: 3 p.m. ET

Location: Estadio do Dragao -- Porto, Portugal

Live stream: Paramount+

Odds: Porto +370; Draw +300; Manchester City -140

"He's a holding midfielder," he said earlier this summer. "He can also be an attacking midfielder. The good thing about Elliot, first of all, is that he is young, so you can work with him and help him to improve as a No 6 or a No 8 arriving in the box. At Forest he was playing next to Sangare, and with England he was playing next to Rice, so two physical players next to him. But I also think that in some games he doesn't need a physical player next to him. It depends a little bit on the game plan and the other team."

Variety is a skill Maresca values in his new-look version of City, even if it sometimes feels like players have overlapping skillsets. Fernandez's arrival raises questions about Cherki's minutes, though both did play against Coventry, while Phil Foden's place in the roster feels uncertain with players like Ndiaye and Antoine Semenyo so far slotting into the lineups more often. Maresca, though, insists there is room for a wide selection of players.

"There is always a game plan," he said Monday on Cherki's ability to drop deeper. "When we are in our side, Rayan also drops a little bit to manage the game – the tempo and the game. When the ball is in the opposite side we need Rayan in a position to be dangerous. So it depends a little bit where we are."

There is no one true version of City, variety and depth usually the strength of any title-winning side regardless of the challenges that await. The uncertainty in City's lineups matches the lack of clarity in how high they can go this season – Maresca still has to put all the pieces together, even if the puzzle is understandably different every time they hit the pitch. Time will tell if it is a winning strategy in what he has seen some describe as the "impossible" job of succeeding the uber-successful Guardiola.

"I said many times when you are Manchester City the expectations are always higher," he said on Monday. "I like to focus on the day by day. It's complicated to think where we can be in February, March or April. For me the most important thing is to see we are improving game after game."

Porto vs. Manchester City projected lineups

Porto: Diogo Costa, Alberto Costa, Jan Bednarek, Jakub Kiwior, Francisco Moura, Victor Froholdt, Pablo Rosario, Gabri Veiga, William Gomes, Andre Silva, Pepe

Manchester City: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Elliot Anderson, Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo, Enzo Fernandez, Iliman Ndiaye, Erling Haaland

Porto vs. Manchester City prediction