Assessing the reasons for Man City's decline in form under Maresca

The ongoing international break will give Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca much-needed time to fix the growing issues in his squad.

The Italian made a dream start after taking over from Pep Guardiola in the summer, leading the club to a record seven consecutive victories at the beginning of the Premier League season.

But three consecutive defeats have followed as they have fallen six points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, who are looking in imperious form as they aim to retain their title.

In September, it was announced that City had been found guilty of breaking the Premier League's financial rules, and matches have continued as the club await the outcome of their appeal.

With possible sanctions hanging over them, is City's recent league form down to psychological issues or are there tactical problems Maresca needs to address?

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Renowned sports psychologist Dr Paul McCarthy has 25 years' experience working in the industry with top clubs in England, Scotland, Germany and France.

McCarthy works on the personal and professional lives of players and says both contribute to how well they perform on the pitch, with the need to "piece together a jigsaw" when situations become disrupted.

"Players are like everyone else - they talk about what is going on in their own lives and things that are topical, especially about uncertain events," McCarthy tells BBC Sport.

"It generates communication with a lot of stories and rumour and over time if there are enough losses, there often becomes a reduced collective efficacy.

"A collective efficacy is a squad's belief in their ability to do what they need to do [to win] and because of their success in the past, that is often shaken a little by consecutive losses."

'Uncertainty leads to a lack of perceived control'

City were sitting pretty at the top of the table after a flawless start, but have dropped to third - behind Arsenal and Brighton.

After the guilty verdict was announced during the last international break, Maresca's men won their first game back - against 10-man Liverpool at Anfield - then narrowly overcame Ipswich at Etihad Stadium in their following match.

But they have since lost to Aston Villa, Brighton and Nottingham Forest, with defensive issues exposed and individual mistakes proving costly.

In their first seven games of the season, City did not concede any goals because of individual errors - but that has shifted dramatically in the past three matches, with four mistakes from players contributing to goals.

City have conceded 13 goals after 10 league games - their highest total at this stage of a season since 2008-09, when they had let in 16 - and that has prompted questions about their defensive solidity.

Asked if the uncertainty over the ongoing appeal process may affect the focus and attention of players, McCarthy said: "Yeah, that would be a very reasonable human response.

"When people are uncertain about their future, that uncertainty leads to a lack of perceived control, so uncertainty is often more stressful than bad news and the research shows that.

"So while you are waiting and you don't know the outcome, you are uncertain of where you are and there is that lack of control for a lot of people - they come to training, they play their games and it's outside of their responsibility."

'Anderson can't single-handedly resolve build-up play'

While at Chelsea, in a video for NBC Sports, Maresca discussed his tactics - moving counters into a 3-2-2-3 shape before pushing one up to create the 3-1-6 shape.

He explained using six attackers was a tactic he had employed against Inter Milan to outnumber their back five.

This season, he has adopted the 3-1-6 shape more permanently - trading a second holding midfielder for an extra attacking midfielder.

Coaching a team full of quality footballers, there is logic to wanting to play in a more front-footed and imposing manner, but how well tactics are performed depend on the skillset of the players asked to do them.

The big questions come in the form of Elliot Anderson and his midfield partners.

Anderson - naturally more of a roaming midfielder - leans on his physical strengths. At Nottingham Forest, he defended intensely, pressed high and wide, and contributed to attacks. This season, Maresca and his staff have looked to mould him into more of a sitting midfielder after the departure of Rodri in the summer.