Rio Ferdinand believes Pep Guardiola needs to settle on his preferred backline at Manchester City if they are to land major silverware this season.
Guardiola has shuffled his defensive pack throughout the 2022-23 campaign, with the City boss alternating between centre-backs Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji on a regular basis.
He has also frequently switched from a three-man setup to a traditional back four , while sometimes using right-back Kyle Walker as part of his defensive trio.
In the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against RB Leipzig on Wednesday, Guardiola brought Ake and Akanji back into a three-man defence alongside Dias, having left the pair out in Saturday’s draw at Nottingham Forest.
Laporte and Stones were both unavailable through injury, nevertheless, leaving the Spaniard with no choice but to start Ake and Akanji in Germany.
Rio Ferdinand says Pep Guardiola (pictured) needs to settle on a preferred Man City defence© Provided by Daily Mail
Nathan Ake was left out of City’s draw at Nottingham Forest but returned against RB Leipzig© Provided by Daily Mail
Manuel Akanji was also benched at Forest but returned to face Leipzig in Champions League© Provided by Daily Mail
Aymeric Laporte was forced to miss out through injury, leaving Guardiola with less of a choice© Provided by Daily Mail
However, Ferdinand fears City will pay the price for making too many defensive changes regardless of the reasoning.
‘All the great teams that have been successful down the years, the bedrock and foundations of any great team is having continuity at the back, and they just don’t have that at City at the moment,’ the former Man United defender said on BT Sport prior to City’s clash with Leipzig.
‘They’re changing every week down to injuries or just choice. History tells you that you do need to have the same faces playing more often than not.
‘You look at Real Madrid [on Tuesday], you know the two centre halves [Antonio] Rudiger and [Eder] Militao are gonna play, [Sergio] Ramos and [Raphael] Varane before that. You go through history and that’s what happens.
‘They’re gonna be doing it different if they’re gonna win it the way that they are at the moment.’
Ferdinand’s fellow BT Sport pundit Shaun Wright-Phillips agreed with his verdict, explaining the importance of lining up alongside familiar faces.
Regardless of the reasoning, Ferdinand fears City will pay the price for too many changes© Provided by Daily Mail
‘I have to agree with Rio there,’ the ex-City star said, ‘even if you go back to City over the last few years when they have dominated the Premier League they’ve had the same team, even when they’ve done well in the Champions League. They’ve had a solid back four that know each other.
‘I feel you have to build cohesion within a team, a bond and a relationship. And I think the more you play with somebody, sometimes you don’t need to actually shout, they just know where you are, they know you’re gonna protect them if somebody tries to run off their back, and I think that comes from just playing regularly together.’
Former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves was of the same opinion, adding: ‘Newcastle are another one, the best defence in the league and you know who is going to play. Manchester United before had Rio and [Nemanja] Vidic. Chelsea had John Terry and [Ricardo] Carvalho, they were there.
‘Every team has a stable partnership. City have four or five top centre backs but at some point you have to settle on one.’
