Pep Guardiola’s decision to select Aymeric Laporte and John Stones as his centre-backs to face Chelsea on Saturday, while leaving Ruben Dias on the bench, dominated the pre-match conversation.
It was the sort of selection decision for a big game where, if the result had gone against City, we’d have been neck-deep in discussions of Guardiola ‘overthink’.
Of course, Pep over overthinks absolutely every game, as is his wont. In this instance, Laporte and Stones were so imperious in a pivotal 1-0 victory - save for an early slip from the England man that Romelu Lukaku might have punished - he was able to brush off the post-match discussion.
