Micah Richards defends under-fire Man City star after Alan Shearer’s ‘torrid’ criticism

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Manchester City have hit a very sticky period in their season.

Specifically, City lost five consecutive games across all competitions before their recent Champions League match against Feyenoord.

This midweek game ended in more disappointment for Pep Guardiola’s side as they threw away a 3-0 lead by conceding three goals in the space of 14 minutes to walk away with just a point.

The Manchester club’s next game sees them take on Liverpool at Anfield – where they have only won twice in the Premier League era.

Looking ahead to this big game, two big-name pundits have been sharing their thoughts on City’s current situation, specifically on what one figure in City’s squad has been producing on the pitch recently.

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Alan Shearer and Micah Richards debate Josko Gvardiol’s form

While debating City’s recent run of form and their upcoming match with Liverpool, Alan Shearer went on to say this in a recent edition of The Rest Is Football about Josko Gvardiol, in particular.

He said: “Pep’s got some big decisions ahead of him on Sunday. Who and who not to play? Does he bring [Ruben] Dias back in?

“Does he stick with Gvardiol, who’s having a torrid time at the moment? Unfortunately, last Sunday with Spurs, he made a couple of errors that led to goals. There was a couple of errors the other evening.

“You could hear the moans and groans when he made the errors. You know, does he put him in it left-back against [Mohamed] Salah? They’re big shouts for Pep.”

Micah Richards then responded to Shearer’s point about Gvardiol, saying this about the Croatian and his recent form.

He said: “The only thing I would say with Gvardiol – we’ve seen him and he’s been so impressive. Scoring goals, linking up, he’s very good on the ball, but he is naturally a centre-back. He doesn’t normally play left-back.

“And because teams are taking more chances with Man City now and forcing them back, he’s having to do a lot of defending in positions which he’s not actually used to.

“Man City normally dominates the ball, don’t they? And now teams are thinking, OK, well, if you’re not at it today, we’re going to have a go at you.

“And now you see players in certain positions that previously they wouldn’t be in because they’re not dominating the ball like they used to and then finishing games off.”

Guardiola has a big decision to make on Gvardiol

After the Feyenoord game, Tim Sherwood exposed Gvardiol, saying that the defender has been “putting his fingerprints” on most of the goals City have conceded throughout their recent poor run of form.

Featuring in all of City’s matches this season, predominantly in the left-back position, Gvardiol will undoubtedly have a tough test on his hands if he starts there on Sunday up against Salah – who has bagged 10 goals in 12 league games this season.

So as Shearer mentioned, Guardiola definitely has a big decision to make over whether he continues to keep Gvardiol in the team or if he gives Nathan Ake the chance to make an impact at left-back in what is undoubtedly City’s biggest game of the season on Sunday.