Pep Guardiola wanted more solidity in his defence during Manchester City's win over Wolves, so replaced Rico Lewis at half-time with Nathan Ake.
Lewis, 18, was picked at right-back again ahead of senior City teammates Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo, and put in another good performance to try and hold off Raul Jimenez and Hwang Hee-chan. Aymeric Laporte had started at left-back, tasked with stopping Wolves dangerman Adama Traore.
At half-time, Guardiola shuffled his pack and brought on Ake for Lewis, sending the Dutchman to left-back, moving Laporte inside alongside John Stones, and switching Manuel Akanji to right-back - again leaving Walker and Cancelo on the bench.
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Explaining the switch, Guardiola confirmed it was a tactical choice, and confirmed there was no injury to Lewis, who had played brilliantly against Tottenham just four days earlier.
“No, no, no [Lewis injury]. I wanted to change to more solidity,” Guardiola said. “I thought Adama could play again, I thought Nathan could control him better than anyone else. And Rico has to know that playing every two or three days at that age is not easy.”
Offering Lewis some advice, Guardiola pointed to a physical reason behind his change at half-time: "He has to use his body to adapt himself. He was marking him a lot because Hwang Hee-chan was close to him. It was just to put more physical presence in that position.”
“In the second-half, we conceded [chances] a little bit more because they pushed us a lot and made high pressing, they didn’t sit back, they showed courage. I know Julen [Lopetegui] really well, and I know he is going to do a fantastic job (at Wolves).”
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