Consistent Kyle proves why he’s so important to Blues...
KYLE Walker has recently been more likely to make headlines at the front of a newspaper than the back.
That is in many respects the curse of the right-back. As Jamie Carragher put it: “Nobody wants to grow up to be a Gary Neville.”
The players that do tend to break the mould generally do so for their attacking exploits. While centrebacks are lauded for their outstanding defensive skills, from Cafu and Dani Alves to Trent Alexander-Arnold if a full-back is to get credit it is for their work done far higher up the pitch.
Walker, in contrast, rarely troubles the scorers; in close to 150 appearances for City he has three goals and only this season ticked over into double figures for assists. Some of this can be explained by a lack of attacking quality, but usually the 30-year-old is tasked with moving inside and/or controlling the middle third of the pitch while his pace to protect against balls over the top requires him to curb any gung-ho instincts.
Recently though, not for the first time in his City career, it has become impossible to ignore Walker’s influence in the team.
After football restarted, he was one of the first names on the teamsheet, particularly in the last month of the campaign, and his performance against Real Madrid and one of the finest players in the world in Eden Hazard was superb. In empty stadiums, his leadership with teammates is even easier to spot.
With strengthening to do at centre-back still, Walker has arguably never been more important to Pep Guardiola’s side - and there were no guarantees he would last this long.
The last time City played Lyon the England centre-back was on a slide of form after coming back rapidly from the World Cup, culminating in him being publicly criticised by his manager against Crystal Palace and left out of the biggest game of the season a few days later. That home game with Liverpool at the beginning of 2019 will be remembered for the John Stones clearance, but it was Danilo to his right.
Even 12 months ago, having recovered from that mid-season blip to be one of the most important players in the run-in, Walker’s performances on the pre-season tour were unsteady enough for right-back to leap up the list of priorities despite two years of problems on the left.
The man brought in to compete with him, Joao Cancelo, may ironically have sorted the left side out despite a difficult start to his City career, but only after failing to take Walker’s spot off him.
Rodri recently spoke of every team needing unfashionable players to keep the machine going, and Walker is fulfilling that role perfectly for Guardiola. He may not get the credit that his more attacking team-mates do, and his personal life may invite more negative news than it could, but it is impossible to think of this City team functioning as well without his consistent excellence.