MX23RW : Tuesday, March 19 04:03:23| >> :120:6558:6558:

Gary Neville: 'Nicolas Otamendi, John Stones will cost Manchester City title'

Gary Neville insists that the unproven defensive partnership of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones will cost Manchester City the title this season.

Gary Neville has claimed that the unproven defensive partnership of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones will cost Manchester City the title this season.

Otamendi and Stones combined to produce a nightmare defensive error to hand Norwich City a decisive third goal during their 3-2 defeat to the Canaries over the weekend, with the two defenders losing the ball deep in their own half.

The result leaves City five points behind leaders Liverpool, who have won all of their five games so far this season.

Reflecting on the pair's display at Carrow Road on Monday Night Football, Neville said: "Guardiola gave up on this partnership 18 months ago when Laporte came to the club. Otamendi always gets caught out as a centre-back and quickens up the opposition in attack. He's so not a Pep Guardiola type centre-back, they're usually composed but he's rash.

"Sir Alex Ferguson at times during his Manchester United career would see a game too far with players and say, 'That's it, you're done'. Manchester City's 4-3 defeat at Liverpool in 2018 was the game when Guardiola decided that Stones and Otamendi couldn't play together. Laporte's injury, Kompany leaving and not replacing him is a big problem for Manchester City. Stones and Otamendi have played 25 games under Guardiola in the Premier League.

"They've conceded more goals than any other partnership, conceded more goals per game, the clean sheets are down, the three-plus goals conceded is well up and then there's the big one, lower win percentage. That will cost Manchester City the Premier League title. If these two play together at their current rate of performance they won't win the league."

Aymeric Laporte, signed by Pep Guardiola in January 2018, has been indispensable under the Catalan but will miss six months of action after suffering a knee injury against Brighton and Hove Albion.

City's failure to replace captain Vincent Kompany has left Guardiola short of options at the back, and the implosion on Saturday may well prompt the 48-year-old into using Fernandinho in that role instead.

ID:371745: cacheID:371745:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:3736:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Nicolas Otamendi in action for Manchester City on September 29, 2018
Read Next:
How Man City could line up against Shakhtar
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal28204470244664
2Liverpool28197265263964
3Manchester CityMan City28196363283563
4Aston Villa29175760421856
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs28165759421753
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd28152113939047
7West Ham UnitedWest Ham2912894650-444
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2811985044642
9Wolverhampton WanderersWolves28125114244-241
10Newcastle UnitedNewcastle281241259481140
11Chelsea27116104745239
12Fulham29115134344-138
13Bournemouth2898114152-1135
14Crystal Palace2878133348-1529
15Brentford2975174154-1326
16Everton2887132939-1025
17Luton TownLuton2957174260-1822
18Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest2967163551-1621
19Burnley2945202963-3417
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd2835202474-5014

Subscribe to our newsletter


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!