Gary Neville has persisted on criticising Pep Guardiola’s insistence on using Bernardo Silva as a left-back. Manchester City suffered a setback on Saturday in the fight for the Premier League championship. The defending champions were held to a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest. Silva made his third consecutive start in defence.
Arsenal will find Ederson’s remarks on the Premier League to be quite encouraging.
In a 3-2-4-1 formation, Guardiola has started playing four attackers. The Portuguese playmaker dropping to the left back position when not in possession.
Man City lost ground at the weekend as the Gunners, who have a game in hand, reclaimed a two-point lead at the top of the table following victories against Arsenal and Aston Villa. Gary Neville shares his thoughts.
And Neville thinks that by starting Bernardo instead of a natural defender, Guardiola is taking a needless risk.
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Gary Neville on Guardiola’s decision
He stated: “I still can’t get my head around Bernardo Silva in a left-back position.”
“I think you’ll concede goals there potentially if that continues to happen, and Pep Guardiola is taking a risk if he has him there.
“When they went ahead against Arsenal and started to look comfortable was when they went to a proper back four, and Manuel Akanji was there with Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker.” Gary Neville said.
Yet, despite ending their four-game losing streak by defeating Villa in a nail-biting 4-2 result the previous time out, Neville thinks Arsenal also have a defensive issue.
Mikel Arteta, a former Manchester United defender, has a good chance of breaking the team’s 19-year Premier League title drought, according to the former defender.
“We’ve got an intriguing title race. Arsenal needed a good weekend. They’ve conceded 10 goals in the last six games. They need to stop conceding goals,” Gary Neville explained.
“One of the traits of a run-in is that if you’re conceding goals and teams feel they have a chance, it’s very difficult to win a league. They just need to watch that.”
“It will give them confidence coming out of this weekend. They can go five points clear again if they win their game in hand.”
“Thomas Partey not playing is a miss, but they just need to think about getting back to clean sheets in this next period.”
“But for City, they’re still giving Arsenal a big chance because they’re not playing at their best. They’re sloppy in front of goal, and they still look vulnerable themselves at the back.”
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