Pep Guardiola indicated that Kyle Walker will have to be content with a place on the bench when Manchester City play with three at the back. For as long as City play the 3-4-3 formation that they used against Liverpool, the England international is likely to remain on the bench. Guardiola said that while Walker could play in one of the roles at the back, he is not suited to moving into midfield alongside Rodri in the way that Stones and Lewis are and there is no time for him to adapt currently.
Pep Guardiola said: “He cannot do it. He will always have pace, he will be the fastest in this room at 60. To play inside you have to make some movements, he has other characteristics. He has played as a full-back coming inside with four in the back with Joao [Cancelo] or Alex [Zinchenko] in that position and Kyle has done it really well, but with this shape of three in the back and two in the middle he cannot do it. He can play coming inside and he has done it many times but like in the position of Liverpool with Rodri and John, he will maybe need time to do it and we don’t have time. It’s just a question of skills. The quality sometimes you need some specific things, there are players that have his qualities. You would not ask Riyad [Mahrez] to play as a full-back because he cannot play as a full-back. The reason why is tactical. It’s not because we lost faith in Kyle.”
