Manchester City had to work hard yesterday to beat Brentford 2-1 at the Etihad to maintain their winning start to the new Premier League season. Thomas Frank’s team took the game to the world champions and made it a tough afternoon for City. It wasn’t City’s best performance and a host of City’s players weren’t at their best. Two of those players were John Stones and Kyle Walker. Were their performances a sign of rust or something more?
In the case of John Stones, he made a poor start to yesterday’s game. It was his error and mix-up with Ederson that allowed Yoane Wissa to open the scoring for Brentford after 22 seconds. In the first half Stones didn’t look like his usual composed self and did struggle up against Brentford’s quick attacking players. To his credit, he was a lot better after halftime before being substituted in the 83rd minute.
Kyle Walker started at right-back at the Etihad yesterday. That was an understandable move given the pace Brentford possess on the counter. But Walker didn’t have his best game across the 90 minutes. He was guilty of losing concentration on too many occasions throughout the match and his defensive positioning was poor at times. Like Stones, he did play a lot better in the second half than in the first half.
READ MORE: Manchester City overcome a tough Brentford test to maintain their winning start to the season.
Both players are now in their 30’s. That is typically the age when players begin to decline or slow down. But in their defence, both Stones and Walker were making their first starts of the season yesterday against a tricky opponent. So it was more than likely rust and Brentford’s quality up front that affected their performances yesterday. Given all they’ve given to Manchester City they deserve to be given some slack for making a slow start to the new season.
John Stones and Kyle Walker also both played in the European Championships last summer so they are slowly working their way back to their best. That must also be taken into account when judging their performances yesterday.
It is a fair assessment to say that Kyle Walker and John Stones were well below their best yesterday. That isn’t a harsh conclusion to draw. Based on the available evidence, rust appears to the be main reason for that. But if their performances don’t improve then it may become an issue for Manchester City going forward this season. But the duo have shown in the past just how important they are to Pep Guardiola’s side. There’s no reason to think they both won’t be valuable contributors this season once they work their way back into form.
