24 | Joško Gvardiol - 2025/26

[Tevez City]

 

[blueparrot]

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No doubt he and we are better with him at centre back, but those stats are meaningless because most of those games at left back were last season when the team wasn't as good.

 

[AirbagsOptionalTheReturn]

He just can’t seem to shake off the brain-farts. Almost every game, there seems to be at least one WTF incident with him. I don’t know how he can be that good and also be that stupid in certain moments.

I agree, I think I posted in his thread last season this exact thing. Every game there is one pass that puts us in a lot of trouble and they are generally passes that he should not make or are just really bad! He is a good CB but until he stops doing these mistakes that's all he will be - good. I hope its Nunes, Diaz, Stones and O'Reilly against Villa.

PS Nunes is still getting judged on past errors, and has not made many this season but this guy seems to get a free pass for some reason.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I agree, I think I posted in his thread last season this exact thing. Every game there is one pass that puts us in a lot of trouble and they are generally passes that he should not make or are just really bad! He is a good CB but until he stops doing these mistakes that's all he will be - good. I hope its Nunes, Diaz, Stones and O'Reilly against Villa.

PS Nunes is still getting judged on past errors, and has not made many this season but this guy seems to get a free pass for some reason.

I think its unconscious bias. Nunes came from a very negative position because of a couple of high profile errors. Josko was signed as the future 'best centre backs in the world' - folk view him in a very positive light. In truth, both are now first choice starters imo.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

PS Nunes is still getting judged on past errors, and has not made many this season but this guy seems to get a free pass for some reason.

Disagree. Nunes is subject to fair criticism in his thread, IMO.

He's done an excellent job at RB (at least defensively, IMO) in spite of this not being his natural position. But he still makes the seemingly once-per-game completely bonehead pass or foul leading to an excellent scoring opportunity for our opponents... with far too frequency.

Nunes is our best RB defensively; but he makes bonehead errors far too often; and is poor going forward. As a squad player/backup RB, I value him. As a starting RB for a side hoping to win the P/L... he's simply not good enough.

 

[.db.]

I agree, I think I posted in his thread last season this exact thing. Every game there is one pass that puts us in a lot of trouble and they are generally passes that he should not make or are just really bad! He is a good CB but until he stops doing these mistakes that's all he will be - good. I hope its Nunes, Diaz, Stones and O'Reilly against Villa.

PS Nunes is still getting judged on past errors, and has not made many this season but this guy seems to get a free pass for some reason.

Younger players always make mistakes and have inconsistencies in their game. Defenders’ mistakes are remembered more than other positions.

Footballers’ prime years are 26-29. We signed Gvardiol when he was 21 and he’s still only 23. He’s still a developing player.

The only main centre backs we’ve signed who are younger than Gvardiol is now were Stones at 22 and Kompany at 22. We signed Dias at 23, Aké at 25, Akanji at 27, Laporte at 24, Otamendi at 27, Demichelis at 32, Lescott at 27, Kolo at 28.

Van Dijk has been the best centre back around for about six years. But at 23, he was at Celtic, probably making mistakes.

 

[Blue-Ghana]

He has not lived up to the hype. very versatile and good on the ball, but defensively has not been world-class

 

[Middedon]

but this guy seems to get a free pass for some reason.

He was raked over the coals these last few days. He mentioned in an interview he almost quit football for basketball and there were a lot of comments (from people whose social media name or image indicated they were a blue..I acknowledge that may not be the case) that suggested he should have stuck with basketball or that he should go back to basketball. I think he’s mostly ignored here - but gets what I always think is an odd amount of criticism elsewhere on social media.

 

[Ken92]

He has not lived up to the hype. very versatile and good on the ball, but defensively has not been world-class

i tend to agree with you ,expected a bit more from him to be honest.

 

[lasereyes]

Disagree. Nunes is subject to fair criticism in his thread, IMO.

He's done an excellent job at RB (at least defensively, IMO) in spite of this not being his natural position. But he still makes the seemingly once-per-game completely bonehead pass or foul leading to an excellent scoring opportunity for our opponents... with far too frequency.

Nunes is our best RB defensively; but he makes bonehead errors far too often; and is poor going forward. As a squad player/backup RB, I value him. As a starting RB for a side hoping to win the P/L... he's simply not good enough.

I think you missed the point of the post. Which was that Gvardiol makes just as many bad errors (look at last Tue for instance) yet doesn't get nearly the vicious criticism that Nunes does

 

[Xhavenjoe]

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Is this the same as " Are Manchester City better with Nico O Reilly at Left back"?

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

I think you missed the point of the post. Which was that Gvardiol makes just as many bad errors (look at last Tue for instance) yet doesn't get nearly the vicious criticism that Nunes does

Fair point.

Perhaps the difference in criticism is that Gvardiol is fantastic at LCB and plays there often - whereas Nunes is (almost?) exclusively played at RB which is a position he's learning.

As a consequence, there's more good Gvardiol performances than bad... whereas an out-of-position Nunes learning how to play RB makes more mistakes.

And as backup RB, I very much like Nunes. He's mostly solid on defense but isn't great going forward - so depending on the opposition he wouldn't be my first pick at backup RB... which leads to my point - we really need an upgrade at RB - a shifting cast of Nunes and Lewis - is great for backup - but as first choice starters... isn't nearly good enough.

 

[kingn6]

He has not lived up to the hype. very versatile and good on the ball, but defensively has not been world-class

Okay

 

[Blue Hefner]

Gvardiol looks like a centre back playing at left back. You wouldn’t think he’s played almost 2 years there for us!

 

[Stelea]

Why the fuck play him at LB?

 

[BluestBlue]

Why Was OR dropped for him ??

 

[meeesh]

Played like he’d only arrived yesterday, get him at CB quick

 

[DTKOAG]

I feel that he does not like playing that role either.
We pay huge amounts on players based on how they have performed in certain positions then play them in other areas

 

[bluemoon32]

Play him at CB or dont play him at all. Too many weaknesses to be an effective FB

 

[silvathechihuahua]

I honestly thought his days at being a left back were over!