Times pundit Tony Cascarino has said that Pep Guardiola is facing a crisis in defence and has come up with an extreme solution.
That involves dropping his only recognised centre-back, Nicolás Otamendi, and drafting in midfielders Fernandinho and Rodrigo as new partners at the back.
Pep is facing the crisis after Vincent Kompany left in the summer, and Aymeric Laporte and John Stones suffered injuries.
Cascarino says Pep should go even further, though, saying that Kyle Walker should be dropped from right-back and that João Cancelo should take his place.
Writing in the Times, Cascarino said, “For an extreme situation I would suggest an extreme solution…
“Guardiola himself moved players back from midfield to central defence at Barcelona, doing so with Javier Mascherano for the long term and also deploying Yaya Touré there in a Champions League final.
“Fernandinho and Rodri are both defensive midfielders who compete hard and win tackles, so centre back should not be too alien a position for them. They are physically strong and have good awareness.”
He finished the column talking about Kyle Walker.
“Kyle Walker has become a concern at right back — he has been OK, but OK is not enough for City.
“Last season Danilo never really pressurised Walker for his place, but since then he has been sold, with João Cancelo arriving in return. Pep has been very loyal to Walker but Cancelo should get the nod soon as part of a radical revamp of his defence.”
Crisis for Man City?
Aymeric Laporte is the really big loss for Man City and he’s out for up to six months.
How big a loss is he? Jamie Redknapp compared it to Liverpool losing Virgil van Dijk for six months in the Daily Mail. That big.
The injury to Stones just compounds the problem for Man City, who let in three goals against Norwich last weekend with Otamendi and Stones at the back.
Otamendi got a 5.83 rating from WhoScored in the game at Carrow Road and Stones and Walker were marginally better with 6.2 scores.
Man City only conceded 23 goals in the whole of last season and have let in six in five games so far.
That’s a problem that Guardiola has to solve, but drafting in Fernandinho and Rodrigo seems a step too far to us.
Fernandinho hasn’t played at centre-back for club or country. Nor has Rodrigo. Putting them at the centre of defence and dropping Otamendi would surely signal the end of the road for the Argentine at the Etihad, and would smack of real desperation from Guardiola.
However, there is a real crisis at the back.
The Guardian points to the club’s refusal to pay ‘above the odds’ for players like van Dijk and Harry Maguire as being the real undoing.
That has snowballed into a crisis that could now hand the Premier League to Liverpool.