Alan Shearer believes that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola should face blame for his side’s troubles defensively so far this season.
City have conceded 28 goals in 22 Premier League games thus far, giving them the unwanted record of the worst defence out of the top eight sides in the table.
Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has faced his fair share of criticism, as have the entire defensive line with each individual guilty of making mistakes or simply not performing well enough from a defensive perspective.
However, Shearer has pointed the finger at Guardiola too, as he argues that the Spaniard’s constant chopping and changing has led to the indecision and error-riddled performances.
“City simply cannot defend and a lot of the indecision at the back comes from the indecision of the manager,” he wrote for The Sun.
“He changes from three at the back to four or five. The personnel change regularly too and the ones that do play look uncertain about their role. They are asked to do one thing by Guardiola but their own instincts seem to suggest they do another.”
Shearer went on to discuss the spending at City and the pressure that Guardiola puts on himself to deliver. However, without the right pieces in place, they may continue to struggle this season and are certainly at risk of missing out on the Champions League given their current form.
Whether or not the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach settles on a certain system with the same personnel remains to be seen. However, from what we’ve seen so far this season, it’s highly unlikely.
Nevertheless, perhaps the most important point that Shearer makes in his column, is that although it will require yet more spending from the City hierarchy, Guardiola simply doesn’t have the players that he needs to make his ideas works.
In turn, that will require further investment in the summer, but given the pressure he’s coming under and the expectations at the club, he needs to find a short-term fix too in order to avoid a disastrous first campaign in England.