CITY Guardiola’s full-back gamble is paying off
PEP Guardiola’s full-back revolution has not really gone to plan.
Last summer he made the dramatic plunge to get rid of all four defenders that were naturals in those positions and brought in three replacements, at a cost to City of around £125m.
As far as Kyle Walker goes, it has worked better than almost all the footballing population thought it would.
The England international moved from Tottenham to take his game to the next level and has done exactly that. Team-mate John Stones said: “The way he gets up and down the pitch is why for me he’s probably the best in the world, and I keep telling him that.
Walker can feel hard done to if he does not make the Team of the Year.
Walker’s success, however, has not helped Danilo to settle from Real Madrid. The Brazilian has struggled to displace his colleague on the right and his discomfort at being asked to play on the left shows on the pitch.
That the left spot is up for grabs is only because big-money signing Benjamin Mendy has spent seven of his first eight months at the club injured.
Having been ruthless in ridding himself of full-backs he deemed not up to scratch last season, Guardiola has been forced to turn first to utility midfielder Fabian Delph and then fledgling No.10 Aleks Zinchenko to fill his team.
Yet if he has been forced to cope without his first choices, the stopgaps have worked because adapting to a new role has been less challenging than adapting to an entirely new way of playing.
“If Zinchenko has to defend for 90 minutes, he is going to suffer,” said Guardiola last week. “But if we dominate the game he can help us a lot.
“In many cases we have seen players like wingers play as full-backs or midfielders playing as centre-backs.
“I think players that play further forward can play in defence - they can adapt to the position - but for example a centre-back playing in midfield might be difficult.”
As City were at Burnley, the last of the four full-backs Guardiola let go was securing his next club. After being ghosted by ‘quite a few clubs,’ Bacary Sagna has signed for Benevento, currently propping up Serie A with seven points from 23 games.
Pablo Zabaleta is also in a relegation battle with West Ham, while Gael Clichy is expecting a winner’s medal at table-topping Basaksehir, he is playing in what UEFA deem the 10th best European league.
Aleks Kolarov has been a regular for Roma this season, although he is the only one of the four that Guardiola wasn’t happy to let go.
Having taken a mighty gamble in binning off all four, confirmation of where they have all ended up shows their limitations.
And given the way the players now at the club have managed to fill in, the business will look even better when Mendy is fit again and ready to contribute.