Manchester City’s defensive difficulties have come under the spotlight after a defeat at Norwich.
Pep Guardiola’s negative were twisted without the Aymeric Laporte and have been punished when Todd Cantwell and Kenny McLean sent Norwich.
Sergio Aguero changed the half-time complexion if he glanced at Bernardo Silva’s cross minutes before the interval, but it had still another defensive lapse saw that Emi Buendia rob Nicolas Otamendi about the edge of the City box before squaring for Teemu Pukki to score the goal which saw Norwich hold on for victory.
Speaking on Sunday Supplement, The Daily Telegraph’s Jason Burt, Miguel Delaney of The Independent and ESPN’s Natalie Gedra analysed City’s defensive problems…
Burt:”The huge problem is that the defence. I think Vincent Kompany and the injury of Laporte has been crucial. You look at the combination of both John and Otamendi Stones, it will not get the job done.
“You look at it and you think of the wealth of this squad, how strong it is over he toss. There’s one place where there is a problem today and I think what is fascinating is that teams will appear at exactly what Norwich did and think that is the best way to go at them be quite aggressive on your assaulting. The intent was there from Norwich to have a go at Manchester City.
“In the past few years in particular some groups have performed City and thought that this is damage limitation – let us just try and get out of there with the smallest defeat we could get.
“Now teams understand there are vulnerabilities in this team that we can exploit. That’s the struggle for Guardiola to deal with because defensively they were quite bad”
Burt:”The manner that City perform the center of defence is going to be an issue for them moving forward. That blend of Stones and Otamendi does not function as a set, and that is going to become a real matter.
“They are not likely to modify their method of playing and going forward that will be the biggest issue. I’m surprised Otamendi remained at the club. Together with Kompany going they thought they needed to keep him. But I has been amazed they didn’t bring in somebody else as first alternative along with Laporte and felt he had gone past his sell by date.
“Stones has had his issues concerning the mistakes he has been producing and that he hasn’t been too convincing. Clearly it was quite interesting last season that Kompany played a great deal of games and he was had by them.
“The combination of these 2 means there isn’t a leader. Nobody taking control of it and really is currently marshalling the defence. It should be Otamendi actually but I really don’t think he is strong enough to do this as a personality. I like John Stones, I enjoy him as a player. You will find difficulty however he is a player that is good. He wants somebody alongside him who’s currently about to marshal this defence. He is not likely to be the person.”
Delaney:”Among the undercurrents before the season was whether Liverpool will be able to sustain the identical level they achieved last season. The anticipation was they’d shed, not City.
“People expected this from City last season after the 100 points. Whether this is the slight drop off which comes in application.
“One of those things that was said following the treble was that they have been knackered, which the mental effort necessary to win those three trophies – and I guess you can bring from the European effort too – was a good deal. The players wish to stay at exactly the exact same level but almost they can not. It’s only taken too much toll.”
Gedra:”Everyone is talking about City’s defence. I believe see City over the past couple of seasons have been able to find solutions and we will need to quit looking a lot at the individuals. And I think that’s what they’re going to do today with this defensive issue.
“You may feel that Stones and Otamendi aren’t enjoying Otamendi and Laporte or even Kompany and Laporte have been, but Laporte is hurt so that’s it. Since he had been the defender for City Obviously it has a large effect in the way that they build up and defend.
“However, City always figure out how to locate superior solutions. They played for the most portion of last season without Kevin de Bruyne and he turned into the portion of the attacking game. So now I truly think that they will find defensive alternatives looking at the collective”
Burt:”Guardiola’s have a significant problem and he must obtain a fast solution. It might be that it’s moving Fernandinho back to the defence, which I believe they’ve been doing in training and trialling just a small bit.”
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