Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City is susceptible to being beaten by top sides due to their defensive crisis.
The Citizens will have yet another defender unavailable for selection next game week after Fernandinho picked up a red card suspension against Aston Villa on Saturday.
City was made to work for the 3-0 victory at the Etihad and ended the game with 10 men on the pitch. Fernandinho, who has been filling in as a make-shift centre-back was already on a yellow when he clashed onto Wesley to stop a counter-attack. He got awarded a second yellow for the reckless challenge and is now facing a 1-match suspension.
City were already without Aymeric Laport and Nicolas Otamendi in the centre-back position. John Stones is the only fit option for Guardiola which means the Spaniard could be forced to play Rodri or Kyle Walker in the position next week.
“When the spirit is correct and you want to help, always you go through [these problems],” Guardiola said. “If the problem is for a short time we can handle it; for a long, long time I don’t know. Against top, top, top teams, when you don’t have the players who play in their own positions I don’t know what will happen.
“But before that, I am not going to say, ‘Oh, disaster. Oh, pity’, like this. It’s what it is. The ideal situation does not exist in football, especially in a long season.”
“In the next game Fernandinho cannot play but other ones are. We have an academy, we have other solutions,” added Guardiola. We might finally get to see City Academy product, Eric Garcia make an appearance in defence.
See Also:Â Manchester City Squad 2019: Man City first team all players 2019/20
