Kyle Walker Man City: Kyle Walker saw the face of controversies because of his actions in the past months. However, that has not been his only concern as he has only started 2 out of 7 Manchester City matches. Coach Pep Guardiola was asked about his decisions on team selections. Ahead of the Southampton vs Man City fixture, he said that Walker is not fit for the present system he has created for the team. Follow Premier League LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has preferred Walker’s England teammate John Stones in his place. Stones has been perfect in Guardiola’s inverted full-back system as proven in their last 4-1 win against Liverpool in Premier League. In this system, Stones needs to push forward in the central midfield position beside Rodri and he has done that perfectly.
However, Walker in the system has been doubtful. Pep Guardiola said about the player, “He cannot do it. To play inside you have to make some educated movements. He has other characteristics. He will always have pace. He will be the fastest in this room at 60 years old.” He added, “The reason why is tactical. It’s not because we lost faith in Kyle.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo played this type of inverted role along with Kyle Walker perfectly under Guardiola. Walker pushed back to the right side of the back 3 when both of them moved forward. However, Zinchenko moved last summer to Arsenal and Cancelo moved this January on loan to Bayern Munich.
In their absence, Nathan Ake plays as the left-back who pushes back into the back 3 when needed. This means that the right back needs to push forward at that moment. While John Stones has done brilliantly in that position, according to Pep Guardiola, Kyle Walker will not be able to do it properly. He also said that with time Walker might be able to do it, but they don’t have that time now.
“He cannot do it”
Pep Guardiola has admitted that Kyle Walker is struggling to adapt to the inverted fullback role at Manchester City 👇pic.twitter.com/bv1oFZzysa
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 8, 2023
He said, “He can play coming inside and he has done it many times, but like in the position [against] Liverpool with Rodri and John, he will maybe need time to do it and we don’t have time.”
He also spoke about his team selection and players’ reaction to that, “What they have to do is two things – Don’t complain or there will be a problem. And try to do it better and better so when I need them, they will be ready.”
He added, “Nobody has a guarantee with me. They have to earn it and sometimes we need a different shape for the way we build up or defend. Some players adapt better than the other ones. They take it personally but we are not against them. We just need something and try to use it.”
