Craig Burley has said that in his opinion, Josko Gvardiol is “pretty average” as a full-back.
After Manchester City drew 1-1 to Liverpool on Saturday, the outspoken pundit discussed the decision to drop Gvardiol in favour of starting Ake on ESPN FC.
It seems like the £200,000-a-week (Sport Rac) man’s start to life at the Etihad Stadium has divided opinion, with Alex Crook also recently claiming that he is “not convinced” about him in a City shirt so far.
Craig Burley says Josko Gvardiol is a “pretty average” full-back
However, Thomas Sorensen said that the Croatian defender makes the grade in his Premier League Team of the Season.
Against Liverpool, Pep Guardiola’s decision to start Nathan Ake instead of the 21-year-old worked wonders, as he managed to keep Mohamed Salah quiet.
Craig Burley had his say on this call and believes it was the right one as he does not rate Josko Gvardiol highly when he is deployed as a full-back.
“We’ve talked about Gvardiol on here, he’s a good player, he’s a good centre-back but he’s a pretty average full-back. And he [Pep Guardiola] was obviously pretty worried about that position and [Nathan] Ake came in and did a pretty good job for the most [part]”, he told ESPN FC.
Josko Gvardiol has been brilliant as a left-back
Apart from his performance against Chelsea, Josko Gvardiol has been splendid as a left-back this season, which is why one cannot help but be surprised by this opinion from Craig Burley.
The youngster has been rock-solid defensively due to his astute reading of the game and physical dominance over wingers.
While on the ball, Gvardiol’s ball-carrying is akin to that of a natural left-back while his range of passing has been magnificent as well.
Sure, Nathan Ake is perhaps even more reliable defensively than Josko Gvardiol, also due to the former’s experience.
But to say Gvardiol has been anything but excellent in a makeshift left-back role is baffling, to say the least.
