Kyle Walker has been told he needs to pick himself up and forget the silly red card which has damaged Manchester City’s Champions League hopes.
Oliver Zinchencko said: “Kyle is such an important player for us, everyone knows that he’s one of the best full-backs in the world. The team needs him.”
The Ukraine international could benefit from Walker’s rash challenge, as the obvious move for Guardiola to make in February would be to shift. Cancelo to right-back and play him on the left.
Oliver Zinchenko said: “Unfortunately he got the red card, I don’t know if it was the right decision because I didn’t see it. Yeah, he was disappointed in the dressing room. But there is no time to be sad, we have to react well. We have to move on.”
Walker’s challenge seemed to be the culmination of growing frustration in the City ranks at some poor refereeing by ref Sandro Scharer, but Zinchenko said the players need to stay calm in such situations.
Oliver Zinchenko said: “I don’t like to speak about referees. He’s a human being, he’s taking decisions and he’s got to take responsibility as well. There are people upstairs who are analysing his game so they’re going to do their best, I guess, to improve the situation in future. But I don’t like to talk about his decisions because we need to be on top of the situation.”