Enzo Maresca has publicly backed Gianluigi Donnarumma to start against Brighton on Saturday — describing his team as "Gigio plus 10" — while insisting that no Manchester City player is undroppable after the goalkeeper's costly afternoon at Aston Villa.
Donnarumma was culpable for both goals as City lost 2-1 at Villa Park last Saturday, their first Premier League defeat of the season. He was then rested for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie against the same Brighton side City face again on Saturday, when Geronimo Rulli made two saves in the penalty shootout win that sent the holders into the quarter-finals.
Maresca confirmed immediately after that tie that Saturday's team would be "Gigio plus 10". Pressed on those comments at his Friday press conference, he drew a careful line, in comments reported by 101 Great Goals.
'Gigio plus 10' — but nobody is undroppable
"I think it is one thing to say that at his moment it is Gigio plus 10, and another thing to say he is undroppable," Maresca said. "They are two different things. There is no player who is undroppable but there is a moment where it is Gigio plus ten because in this moment I see it like this."
The City boss refused to dwell on the Villa errors. "Any player makes mistakes, [what is] important is to move on, understand the reason why, to learn from that mistake and move on," he said. "In this moment we are talking about Gigio but remember the last minutes the save at Manchester United away. All players make mistakes at some point of the season, sometimes it costs points and sometimes not because we are lucky but I think it's a normal process from Gigio."
It is a pointed show of faith. Rulli's shootout heroics gave Maresca an easy excuse to rotate, and he has declined it — while making sure every other player in the dressing room heard the second half of the message.
Semenyo the only absentee
There was an almost clean bill of health elsewhere. Maresca told City's official site that Antoine Semenyo is the only player unavailable for Saturday's 15:00 kick-off at the Etihad Stadium. The Ghana winger, injured in the win over Ipswich earlier this month, is set for a few more weeks out. "He's good. He's in a good mood," Maresca said. "He's in the building making the recovery sessions and the therapy that he needs but it's too early for now."
Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Elliot Anderson — all rested alongside Donnarumma in midweek — are available again, giving Maresca his strongest squad of the season for the visit of third-placed Brighton, whose manager Fabian Hurzeler has openly talked of revenge for Wednesday's cup exit.
So what does this mean for City?
City remain top of the Premier League on goal difference from Arsenal, both on 21 points, with Brighton five points behind in third — but the defensive numbers are drifting. City have conceded 11 goals across their last five fixtures in all competitions, shipping at least two in three of them, and Donnarumma's Villa performance put that fragility in one pair of gloves.
Saturday is therefore about more than three points. A commanding Donnarumma display closes the goalkeeper debate Maresca has tried to shut down; another error, with Rulli's cup heroics fresh in everyone's mind, makes "Gigio plus 10" a much harder line to hold — and trips to RB Leipzig in the Champions League and Nottingham Forest follow immediately.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Maresca has played this exactly right. Dropping Donnarumma after one bad game would have told the whole squad that mistakes are punished, not learned from — and Rulli will get his chances in the cups regardless. But "no player is undroppable" is the warning that matters: Donnarumma starts on Saturday because his manager believes in him, and belief at this level is a loan that has to be repaid, starting against Brighton. Will Donnarumma repay that faith at the Etihad — and is Maresca right to keep him as his number one? Let us know in the comments.
