Manchester City may have lost four games in a row without half of their squad but Pep Guardiola has spotted a hidden gem to come out of this testing period.
City are without Ruben Dias and John Stones through injury, while Nathan Ake and Manu Akanji were unused substitutes at Brighton and were never going to be risked after reporting fitness issues.
Guardiola also revealed after defeat at Brighton that captain Kyle Walker is not ready to play 90 minutes, despite doing so twice this week in back-to-back Premier League losses. The City chief also said last week that Rico Lewis needs a rest but cannot drop out because he is one of only a few fit defenders.
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So he fielded a makeshift back line at Brighton that saw a half-fit Walker at right-back, Lewis move to the left, Josko Gvardiol come inside for a rare outing at centre-back, and teenager Jahmai Simpson-Pusey thrown in for his Premier League debut after 90 bruising minutes in Portugal this week.
Thirty-fou-year-old Walker raised the average age of the defence significantly – Simpson-Pusey has just turned 19, Lewis turns 20 later this month, and Gvardiol is just 22. And it was Simpson-Pusey who earned praise from Guardiola after the game, with the manager declaring that ‘the young lad’ is a genuine option for the future at the Etihad.
“The guy, the young lad [Simpson-Pusey] played really good, with his composure, and duels, everything was good,” Guardiola explained. “It’s not easy for him. Normally young lads come in with support from the team, with Rodri, the best Kyle and defenders in support.
“Right now is playing a position is difficult for him, and he perform unbelievable. We have have central defender to help us for the future, for the next years. I’m really pleased. Always there is good news when the situation goes bad and this is one of them.”
