Pep Guardiola has been facing the media ahead of his side’s trip to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium this Sunday, in which his side has never scored at the ground in four attempts. The City boss was quizzed on left-back Joao Cancelo’s departure to Bayern Munich at the end of the window and his decision to not sign a replacement. “We can handle the situation in all departments. I trust the players. If I had the feeling, I’d say to my bosses we should do this. With [Manuel] Akanji, I said we should have another central defender”, Guardiola said.
The City manager went on to elaborate on his decision and claimed the signing of Akanji was completely different to a potential left-back pursuit. “Nathan [Ake] was injured [at the time], Ruben [Dias] too, John [Stones]. We had this opportunity. In this case, it’s completely different.” [via Joe Bray/@_joebray]
Guardiola then explained the personnel he felt are capable of playing in the left-back position, as Nathan Ake cannot play every game from now until May. “Nathan [Ake] cannot play all games. Aymeric [Laporte] can play there, Rico [Lewis] can play there, of course Sergio [Gomez].” Ake is a centre-back who is covering superbly at left-back, Laporte is excellent when deployed there but the Spaniard is wasted out wide, Rico Lewis is an 18-year-old right-back inverting into midfield, and Sergio Gomez has only recently started playing the left-back role and looks completely out of his depth and is a potential risk whenever he plays.
It is yet to be seen if Guardiola is truly happy with his full-back choices, but with the January transfer window now shut, the City manager will have to make do with his squad until the Summer window opens.