Pep Guardiola played a player in a position against Huddersfield Town where he has looked out of place time and again for Manchester City.
The Catalan tactician is renowned for profiling players perfectly and sooner rather than later, he will realise that he is a misfit in the position. Some players can play in multiple positions, such as Josko Gvardiol, who has thrived as a left-back despite being a centre-half by trade.
Kevin De Bruyne hailed Bernardo Silva’s versatility as well, joking that the Portuguese international can play in 19 positions.
However, others, such as Savinho, are best played on the right-wing.
Savinho should never play on the left-wing for Man City despite his goal vs Huddersfield
Savinho named the right-wing as his “favourite position” as well and against Huddersfield, the Brazilian struggled to impress on the left flank during his first start for Manchester City this season.
The 21-year-old eventually scored a brilliant goal, however, blasting the ball on to the crossbar before it went into the back of the net against the Terriers.
However, Manchester City’s £21 million man, Savinho was frustrating to watch against Huddersfield, as he often struggled to beat Lasse Sorensen.
The youngster’s game tends to be rather one-dimensional on the left-wing as he almost always pushes the ball down the line and puts crosses into the box.
Such was the case against Huddersfield as well and on the night, Savinho’s crosses were often under-hit or had too much power on them.
Even last season, the Sao Mateus-born talent has underwhelmed on the left-wing, with his showings against Wolves and Everton away from home springing to mind.
Savinho is considered a top talent and he does his best work on the right-wing taking on defenders on the inside and the outside, crossing the ball with both feet and tending to make smarter runs on the opposite flank.
Savinho stats during Huddersfield vs Man City
At the Accu Stadium, even though the highly-rated wideman found himself in several one-v-one situations, his game was far too predictable and he was arguably City’s most frustrating player on the pitch.
The stats show that despite Savinho’s late goal, he did not have his best game in a Manchester City strip to say the least against Huddersfield.
| SAVINHO STATS VS HUDDERSFIELD | |
| GOALS | 1 |
| SUCCESSFUL DRIBBLES | 1/4 (25%) |
| POSSESSION LOST | 18 |
| ACCURATE CROSSES | 3/8 |
Savinho lost the ball 18 times, delivered three accurate crosses out of eight and completed one of his four attempted dribbles.
With Jeremy Doku praised for being in blistering form, it would be best for the Belgian to remain City’s starting left-winger unless Pep Guardiola wishes to rest him; as was the case against Huddersfield, where he had no choice but to start the Brazilian international due to Omar Marmoush’s injury.
