To suggest in early December of Manchester City’s post-treble season that Pep Guardiola is unsure which midfielders to select seems counterintuitive. For the uber-propagator of the pass-and-move masters to reach this juncture is as quaint as it is material to a current run of four successive Premier League games without victory – and three successive losses in domestic matches earlier in the campaign.
John Stones, Rico Lewis, Kalvin Phillips, Bernardo Silva, Manuel Akanji, Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic have been tried in central berths as Guardiola fiddles to find the winning blend. Recent injuries (to Kovacic and Nunes) may be a factor but considering the depth of his resources the manager has failed. In the draws with Chelsea (4-4), Liverpool (1-1) and Tottenham (3-3) and Wednesday’s 1-0 loss at Aston Villa, the Guardiola battleplan of precision possession, geometric angles, composure, speed of thought and ruthlessness misfired.
