Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City were missing a crucial figure during their defeat to Tottenham on Saturday.
Following a positive start to the 2025/26 campaign for Pep Guardiola’s men away at Wolves, Spurs helped City realise that there is still a lot of work to do if the Manchester club are to challenge for the Premier League title this season.
Rayan Cherki was one of many Man City stars who could not deal with Tottenham’s man-marking system, with James Trafford another caught out by Thomas Frank’s traps, with the 22-year-old at fault for the North London club’s second goal.
While analysing Tottenham’s tactics against City on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher stated that he believes Guardiola was missing a key star.
Jamie Carragher looking on before Manchester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Jamie Carragher thinks Man City missed Ederson against Tottenham
Ederson started on the bench against Tottenham on Saturday as the Man City star is the subject of strong interest from Galatasaray, and there is a good chance the transfer will be finalised this week.
Had the Brazilian started, Carragher believes it would have helped City deal with Tottenham due to the 32-year-old’s passing ability, as the goalkeeper would help create an 11 v 10 match-up.
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“I think football is now a man-to-man marking game, it is,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football when analysing how Tottenham defeated Man City.
“But because City, as you have just said there, had had Ederson in that situation, it’s not 10 v 10 like it is for most teams, because Ederson is that good on the ball.
“But if you don’t have Ederson, and you have Trafford there, and it is not just Trafford, it could be a lot of goalkeepers in the Premier League, it does become just 10 v 10.
“That’s what it is, and that’s really the problem City have got if they’re not going to use Ederson.”
Thierry Henry agreed with Carragher, having initially pointed out the issue, which is one of the main reasons the Brazilian goalkeeper should be kept for the 2025/26 campaign, as Ederson would also help Trafford develop ahead of next season.
James Trafford looks up to Ederson
If Ederson departs the Etihad Stadium, Gianluigi Donnarumma is expected to replace the Man City legend, but that is a signing that does not make sense, as the Italian is not good with the ball at his feet.
The best path forward would be to keep the Brazilian and get Trafford to learn from the veteran goalkeeper, as the 32-year-old is a player the Englishman looks up to.
“He’s extremely talented and one of a kind with the ball at his feet,” Trafford recently said about Ederson. “He’s someone I looked up to a lot when I first trained with him when I was 17.
“I just tried to take small bits of his game and try and put them into my game and improve. I’m excited to work with all the goalkeepers and just push each other and improve.”
The goalkeeper situation at Man City is a bit of a mess at present, but once this week is over, it will become clearer how Guardiola approaches the position over the coming months.