Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol lined up at centre-back for Manchester City for their [2-all draw](https://esteemedkompany.com/2024/12/07/manchester-city-2-crystal-palace-2-city-player-ratings-as-citys-depleted-side-leave-london-with-a-point/) against Crystal Palace yesterday. Although Pep Guardiola’s side was held to a draw there were signs that Dias and Gvardiol could be City’s best centre-back pairing going forward. It does leave you asking a question. Has Manchester City’s injury crisis inadvertently led them to discover their best defensive set-up for the future? It may have, and that could be, the silver lining to come out of Manchester City’s injury crisis.
Josko Gvardiol was forced to start at centre-back yesterday out of necessity with Manchester City missing a host of defenders due to injury. Manuel Akanji, John Stones and Nathan Ake were all unavailable for yesterday’s match. Kyle Walker started at right-back yesterday with Rico Lewis at left-back. That isn’t City’s full-strength defence. At times that showed yesterday. But there was promise shown that Dias and Gvardiol could be City’s centre-back pairing of the future.
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Ruben Dias was superb yesterday. He was easily City’s man-of-the-match at Selhurst Park. But alongside him, Josko Gvardiol was more than serviceable at centre-back. As the game wore on I got the impression that the pair could become City’s best defensive pairing. Nathan Ake and John Stones both play the position. But their injury issues have cost them this season. Perhaps it’s time for Gvardiol to play alongside Dias more regularly. That way Pep Guardiola can have some consistency with his centre-back pairing. That may help the world champions defensively as well.
Of course, for this to happen, that would require a change of City’s preferred defensive set-up. Perhaps Nathan Ake can move to left-back. He isn’t the weapon going forward that Gvardiol is but he is a quality defensive player either at left-back or at centre-back. Or maybe in time, the world champions buy an out-and-out left back. That’s a question to ponder if Josko Gvardiol is considered the answer to City’s centre-back issue. The issue is more due to Nathan Ake and John Stones’ fitness issues but City’s defence could do with some consistency at centre-back. Playing Gvardiol there my provide that.
But coming out of yesterday’s game I got the feeling that Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias is Manchester City’s best centre-back pairing. Perhaps that may be looked back upon as the silver lining of Manchester City’s current injury crisis. That remains to be seen but it does appear to be a viable solution to City’s defensive issues.