Josko Gvardiol was Pep Guardiola’s hero during Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
The Citizens were cruising at halftime as goals from Phil Foden and Erling Haaland put them ahead, only for a nervy second half to follow as Rodri was sent off shortly after the players came back out for the second half.
One figure in Guardiola’s side that we felt stood out and delivered a strong performance on this occasion was Gvardiol.
Gvardiol impressed against Forest
The 21-year-old completed the full 90 minutes of the match against Steve Cooper’s side and was able to show how much of a capable defender he is.
Specifically, the Croatian made four clearances, two interceptions, one tackle and blocked one shot, as well as not being dribbled past on even one occasion throughout the game.
He also managed to win all five of the ground duels he was involved in against the Midlands side.
This performance ultimately earned Gvardiol an overall match rating of 8/10 from SofaScore, making him the second-highest rated City player on the day behind Foden (8.1/10).
With the home side having to get through the majority of the second half with 10 men, under the pressure of Forest, who had 10 attempts at goal in total, Gvardiol showed his worth in this game, especially from a defensive point of view.
Moving forward, if the centre-back can deliver the sort of defensively adept performances he did against Forest on a regular basis throughout the remainder of the season, he’ll have a great debut campaign with the treble winners and give them a great chance of being successful once again.
