Manchester City have started to find form again after a rocky period recently – but Gary Neville thinks there’s one think that will still be annoying Pep Guardiola.
Before the Club World Cup, City recently drew three games in a row in the Premier League and then lost to Aston Villa.
It was a run of form that we don’t see very often from City these days under Pep Guardiola, and many were starting to wonder if last season’s exertions winning the Treble were finally catching up with the players.
But City went to Saudi Arabia and won the Club World Cup, and since then things have been going very well.
Since returning from Saudi, City have three wins out of three in the league, and also destroyed Huddersfield Town 5-0 in the third round of the FA Cup.
Despite the recent upturn in form, Neville – who recently talked about possible complacency at the Etihad – believes there’s still one thing perfectionist Pep won’t be happy with…
Gary Neville shares what will still be annoying Pep Guardiola about Man City right now
The main thing right now is that City are winning games again and hunting down Liverpool at the top of the Premier League.
But we all know that Pep is someone who wants everything to be right.
Neville believes that while City are looking dangerous again, Pep will not be too pleased with the state of the defence at the moment.
He said on the Gary Neville podcast: “I think Pep will be a little bit annoyed with his defenders, just giving goals away. I think he’ll want them to just tighten up a little bit. But it just reminds me of a normal season where they’re just kicking into gear beyond Christmas, they’re in the pack where they want to be and they’re dangerous now. The rest are in a bit of trouble.”
City conceded two goals in Saturday’s game against Newcastle and also one against Everton recently, but Pep’s side did keep clean sheets against Huddersfield and Sheffield United.
Neville is right, the defence hasn’t been good enough
Neville is absolutely right that Pep will not be too happy with his defenders at the moment.
Generally this season, the defence has been the weakest aspect of the team, with Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker in particular some way below the levels they showed last season.
But the team defends as a collective. It isn’t just about the actual defenders, it’s about the wingers and the midfielders too.
Ultimately all that matters is getting wins, but those wins will be much easier to come by if the defending improves – Pep will no doubt be endeavouring to make that happen.
