24 | Joško Gvardiol - 2025/26

Too soft to play cb. And he lacks position sense. He can play only lb.
 
so physically weak it's mind boggling. weak in the air, weak in the tackle, just weak
 
Gvardiol is great at CB. I'm not sure why he was pulled after Al Hilal scored other than perhaps Pep wanted a faster CB.

Al Hilal were killing us on the left - but that's almost entirely on Ait-Nouri.
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For their first goal, Ait-Nouri went into a tackle a bit too hard and the attacker went past him. Then Ait-Nouri took a bad angle - due to lack of pace? - and the attacker went far down our left flank unopposed.

Gvardiol was there in the box - which I think is his correct position.

Ait-Nouri, though, due to his poor angle, ended up right next to Gvardiol - covering an already covered position - and then, having reached this poor position, failed to close down the attacker.

A cross went in - unopposed - and Ederson made a mistake by parrying it forward - which happened to hit Dias - poor parry nonetheless - and in the mayhem that followed Al Hilal scored.
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For their second goal, Gvardiol is in Al Hilal's box - because we're taking a corner kick. In this situation, Ait-Nouri is our deepest defender.

The cross comes in... and then Al Hilal gains control. A fast pass forward is made... and Ait-Nouri, our deepest defender, is ball watching. Meanwhile an Al Hilal attacker to his right is sprinting full out. Ait-Nouri can't afford to ball watch - he needs to watch the field - and when we lose the ball - and an attacker is sprinting forward - Ait-Nouri needs to sprint back.
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IMO - Gvardiol did nothing wrong in the first two goals scored by Al Hilal - Ait Nouri was 80% to blame for their first goal (because Ederson could have parried the shot far to his right or left instead of centrally - and 100% to blame for their second goal - because he failed to read the game and was ball-watching as our deepest defender.
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In this game I've learned a lot more about Ait-Nouri - he's a great dribbler - and an attacking asset - but on defense he's awful. Can't read the game. Not enough pace. Ball-watches.
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TL/DR
If Ait-Nouri is playing - FFS don't put him as our last defender on corner kicks.

And if Ait-Nouri is playing - we're going to concede crosses into the middle - because Ait-Nouri lacks pace, and positional awareness to defend.
 
Gvardiol, in full Sergeant Slaughter mode — locked in, disciplined, and preparing for battle. Sharpening every edge of his game, physically and mentally, ready for war this coming season. A defensive masterclass incoming — the league has been warned.

 
Dialog said:
Gvardiol, in full Sergeant Slaughter mode — locked in, disciplined, and preparing for battle. Sharpening every edge of his game, physically and mentally, ready for war this coming season. A defensive masterclass incoming — the league has been warned.

Click to expand...

Clearly practicing for corners, somebody needs to remind him he plays for us and that we are the only team in the world that doesn't get away with that stuff on corners
 
One of those who played far too much last season, which came on top of a ridiculous amount the year before. Ideally, we’d be able to get through the coming three fixture using the other centre backs and then allow one of them to leave just before the international break. Having not played for us, that would likely mean he would miss the international games and give him a solid month off before returning to face that lot.
 
Some info on his defensive and attacking contribution last season…

From City players:

IMG_2449.jpeg


From defenders in the PL:

IMG_2449.jpeg


He had the best tackle success rate of all PL defenders last season.

Also even being only 6’1” he’s good in the air, got a good leap on him. Would be good to have him against Spurs as they have some big players.
 
Need him back ASAP.

Really dont like Dias at LCB, passing angles are too unnatural for him.
 
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