Manchester City fans have criticised Pep Guardiola for overlooking a player who they feel would have been great against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Citizens were beaten 2-0 by Spurs, with errors at the back playing their part in the visitors returning to North London with all three Premier League points.
Brennan Johnson opened the scoring in the 35th minute and, though it was chalked off for offside at first, VAR showed that John Stones had slipped and played Richarlison onside in the build-up.
For the second, James Trafford played an awful short pass which was pounced upon and worked to Joao Palhinha for an easy goal that put Spurs out of reach.
Manchester City fans want Abdukodir Khusanov to start from now on
Manchester City fans have been calling for Abdukodir Khusanov to feature more prominently for a while now, and those calls grew louder during and after the Spurs clash.
Khusanov has only played for eight minutes this season, getting a short cameo off the bench against Wolves before being unused against Tottenham.
City fans feel their defence is just too slow, particularly if a high line is being used, while Khusanov is known for his lightning pace.
One fan wrote on X: “Khusanov needs to be given a chance to play, he has the pace and aggression.
“I love Dias, he’s our leader too, but he has been poor for a while now, Van De Ven and Romero are a great partnership.”
Another supporter said: “I love John Stones and I am happy playing Stones or Dias but I just think we need a faster CB next to one of them!
“Stones and Dias great players but need a Gvardiol or Khusanov next to them.”
The calls for Khusanov to play kept coming, with one fan saying: “Our high-line, we need fast defenders.
“We should play Dias and Khusanov or John Stones and Khusanov. Nunes right back.”
While some fans felt Khusanov should have replaced one of the centre-backs, others felt Rico Lewis should have made way for him.
“I like Rico Lewis but the defence is left so exposed from his movements,” one fan said. “Put Khusanov at RB and play like the treble team.”
Another said: “I think we needed Khusanov and his pace this game. Probably over Lewis as loathe as I am to give ammunition to his haters.
“But especially once Ait-Nouri went off we needed any kind of pace to help deal with transitions.”
Another said: “We don’t have wingers, because if we did we would’ve seen the difference.
“Rico Lewis should be dropped. Khusanov should start games.
“And the new signings need to lock in – I don’t know if it was first home game jitters or what.”
Abdukodir Khusanov tipped to potentially play at right-back
Jordan Campbell of The Athletic recently suggested there could be hope for the £34million man in terms of game time going forward.
Campbell feels Khusanov could start featuring at right-back more often in the 2025/26 campaign, with Hugo Viana yet to sign a new right-back.
“I wouldn’t rule out Khusanov at right-back helping too,” he wrote on The Athletic.
“As he is rapid and looks suited to the 1v1 defending required in the Premier League nowadays.”
With Lewis not impressing against Tottenham, it could prove to be food for thought for Guardiola.
