Souness says defence double act has bright future
FOR a manager who is famous for his attention to detail, Pep Guardiola’s actions when City were awarded a late penalty at Anfield were confusing, to say the least.
Gabriel Jesus clearly thought he was next in line, with number one Sergio Aguero off the field – and the Brazilian looked puzzled and downcast when Riyad Mahrez took the ball, and promptly took a FORMER Liverpool manager Graeme Souness believes John Stones and Aymeric Laporte could be City’s first-choice centre-back pairing for years to come.
The duo kept Liverpool’s ominous forward-line quiet at Anfield on Sunday, as the Blues came away with a point after Riyad Mahrez missed an 85th-minute penalty for spot-kick that was more likely to trouble the ducks in Stanley Park than it was Liverpool keeper Alisson.
Guardiola claims he made the decision, and Mahrez said he had made his own decision – so you can only presume that the manager and the player came to the same conclusion at the same time.
On Guardiola’s part, it seemed to be a snap decision based on the Blues. And Souness believes that Pep Guardiola has found an axis that suits his principles perfectly.
“I think Laporte and John Stones are the future. They might be the present as well,” Souness said.
“Certainly when you look at the age of them, and they’re both lean and quick and good footballing types.
“You can see they fit the bill for the way he wants to play and they Mahrez’s performance penalty practice in training.
For a manager who pores over every detail – he even has a team captain, and then second, third, fourth and fifth ‘captains’ – the lack of a hierarchy of penalty takers is bemusing.
Fair play to Mahrez, a player who does not enjoy speaking to the media, as he stopped in the mixed zone at Anfield to explain his miss to both French TV and M.E.N. Sport.
But perhaps there needs to be a strict hierarchy in terms of penalties – and statistics have a part to play, although cannot be the sole basis.
Aguero, for instance, is indisputably City’s main penalty taker – and his record of scoring 39 out of 49 is just about average in terms of penalty conversion – around 80 per cent.
He would have taken it had he still been on the pitch. But he has a patchy record in taking penalties in big games, missing them in crunch Champions League games against during could be a partnership for a long time.
“John Stones, when you think back to his days at Everton, was partial to making a mistake and I think he’s got that out of him.”
Guardiola’s preferred style sees the Blues regularly play out from the back and while that brings risks, Souness is sure of the reward.
“I think the supporters of City have to accept that with way they Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk and Paris St Germain. The best penalty taker in the squad is Ilkay Gundogan, if you believe the stats. He has scored six from six, including a high-pressure spot-kick in the Champions League. The only other player with a 100 per cent record is Raheem Sterling - and his only penalty was the sixth goal in the 6-0 win at Watford last season. Hardly a big ask. Looking to the big players in these situations is also difficult. David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne have both taken one penalty each for City, and both missed. Perversely, that sure-footed pair have also taken two each for their countries, Spain and Belgium respectively – and all four hit the back of the net. It seems to be a City problem, ever since the impeccable Yaya Toure left the scene. Fernandinho is next in the statistical pecking order, having scored 11 out of the 17 he has taken – all of them while he was at Shakhtar. Stuart Brennan want to play, players will make the occasional mistake,” he added.
“The managers look at it and think this is the way I want to play, this is such an advantage to the way we want to play over the course of a season. There will be games when we make a mistake for being a little bit too cute around the area but, overall, what they add to our game over the course of a season is such a plus to us.”