Pep Guardiola admits he would have had a “big, big problem” if Kyle Walker had left Manchester City in the summer.
The England right-back came close to leaving the treble winners for Bayern Munich but ultimately opted to stay and this week extended his contract at the Etihad Stadium until 2026.
The 33-year-old had a spell out of favour last season but has started the new campaign strongly and Guardiola is pleased to have retained his services after losing experienced pair Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez.
The City manager said: “After Gundo and Riyad, losing Bernardo (Silva) and Kyle would have have been a big, big problem.
“It’s not about the quality – the skills you can find quite similar, or different players can help you – but there are some things in the locker room that are so difficult to replace.
“These guys have a lot of experience in the important moments of important games. You know exactly how he’s going to respond in the bad moments.
“It would have been a big loss. That’s why as a club of course we fought for him to stay with us.”
Walker joined City from Tottenham in 2017 and has since won 15 trophies, including the Champions League and five Premier League titles.
Guardiola believes he has matured into a far better player than when he arrived and recently underlined his qualities with his response to a calamitous error last month.
Walker was at fault as Sheffield United claimed a late equaliser against City in their Premier League clash at Bramall Lane but then recovered to tee up Rodri’s dramatic winner.
Guardiola said: “He made a wrong decision when they equalised but, right after the equaliser, the next two actions came from Kyle in the byline. It was a goal. What a top, top player.
“He forgets what happened, says, ‘OK I’m going to win the game’. That defines the big, big players.
“No doubt he’s a much, much better player than seven years ago when he arrived. That is clear.
“Everyone makes mistakes but he has an incredible heart. And he’s a really nice guy, really nice, always tries to help.
“When a player is injured, he always calls him. I was at home (after back surgery) and he called me twice. ‘How you feel, Pep?’ This counts a lot in the group of people.
“The reason why we have a lot of success? The quality of human beings that we have.”
Walker has captained City so far this season and, with Kevin De Bruyne currently sidelined, could be the favoured choice to succeed Gundogan in the role full-time.
A vote among the squad and backroom staff – in which Guardiola will not participate – is due to be held in the coming days.
Guardiola said: “The vote will be taken the next days and the players will decide. It belongs to the players, not to me. What they decide, I’m fine (with).”
Erik ten Hag seeking solution to Manchester United’s defensive dilemma
Erik ten Hag admits he is at a loss to explain Manchester United’s poor defensive performances.
The Red Devils have conceded 14 goals in their last five games and 10 in the last three, with three goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday not enough even to earn them a point.
United boss Ten Hag said: “We have shown that we can do it because last year we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League because of the team, because we defended very good as a team, so we have to get back to that standard.
“Of course I am pushing the team and demanding from the team, and from the start of the season, but they are human beings, not robots, so, why they are not doing it, I try to find out and I try to give the solutions and try to motivate the players to do the job.
“When you are in a period like we are in always as a manager you are asking yourself these questions. My job is to get them to do the job.”
On United’s tendency to concede goals soon after a restart, Ten Hag added: “(We’re) not concerned but we are aware of it. Of course you can’t close your eyes for things like this so we coach the players, we coach the team in that fact.”
Question marks have been raised about the attitude of United’s squad, with clips from the Bayern game apparently showing players not chasing back as hard as they might.
Ten Hag does not believe a lack of willingness was to blame, though, saying: “It’s always a concern when we didn’t run but I think against Bayern it was not the case.
“In certain situations yes so it’s also to recognise in which situation is it about they didn’t recognise it and didn’t make the right decisions or is it about willingness?
“Against Spurs, we didn’t run too much. But I think against Bayern we did our best from physical outputs but we didn’t always run in the right moment.
“If we bounced back like we did in Munich, you can’t say the spirit isn’t right. I think we have other problems than that.”
Ange Postecoglou points out the differences between himself and Mikel Arteta
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou is full of admiration for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, but fails to see many similarities between the pair.
Postecoglou’s youthful Spurs side face the biggest test of his early reign on Sunday when they make the short trip to the Emirates for the first north London derby of the season.
Second-placed Tottenham travel across the capital in high spirits but face an Arsenal team that are into a fifth season under Arteta, who also took over a club in the doldrums and has overseen a cultural change from top to bottom.
While Postecoglou is at the start of the same type of rebuilding job at Spurs, he poked fun at suggestions he is alike his 41-year-old opposite number.
He said: “I think Mikel has been outstanding, really strong right from the start by having a real vision for the football club and the club’s backed him, but I don’t think that’s unique.
“I think Liverpool did the same with Jurgen (Klopp). Most clubs that end up having a successful period do it on the back of having a really clear idea of what they’re trying to create.
“The only problem is that a lot of clubs jump at shadows at the first sign of things not progressing at the rate they were hoping to. Credit to Arsenal and credit to Mikel that they backed each other and they’re reaping the rewards of it but that’s not a blueprint for us to follow.
“We’ve got our own blueprint. You don’t have to follow anyone else’s timescale, you don’t have to follow anyone else’s processes. What you’ve got to do is have a clear idea about what you want and provided along the way you see progress, stick to it.
“In terms of similarities, I’m 58, he’s whatever (41). I’ve had 26 years, he’s five years into it. He’s managed in one country, I’ve managed in a few. I’m not sure how he’s got a great head of hair!
“He’s a lot fitter than I am. I don’t know, there’s not a lot of threads I can sort of join between us. I wouldn’t say we’re opposites.
“We’re different. Even in the way his team plays. Yes he does have a very attacking philosophy but it’s different from mine and that’s the beauty of the game. That’s what you love about it.
“It’s why you can’t copy. If you’re an artist and you see a Picasso, yeah you can copy it, but it’s not going to be a Picasso is it? It’s the same with football.
“You can see that somebody does something really well, but don’t bring your own personality into it. I have great admiration for the way he’s gone about things and how he’s stuck to his beliefs. It’s a credit to him.”
Postecoglou did not claim to have any type of personal relationship with Arteta, but he did reveal a time when he got to view the Spaniard up close.
The former Celtic boss watched Manchester City training not long after he was appointed manager at Yokohama, who are part-owned by the City Football Group.
“I spent a week at City when I first got the Yokohama job because they were part of the group and were generous enough to invite me in,” he revealed.
“I didn’t speak to anyone but I observed training and you could see then how passionate Mikel was about the game and that he was itching to get going and become a manager himself.
“He’s had a different journey but he’s made the impact.
“As I keep saying, there’s no real defined way to get here.”
Virgil van Dijk excited about Darwin Nunez potential after recent goal rush
Virgil van Dijk believes striker Darwin Nunez is starting to realise the potential which persuaded Liverpool to spend a possible club-record transfer fee on him.
The Uruguay international endured a testing start to life at Anfield and although he scored 16 goals, the feeling remained he had underperformed.
He has already played a significant part this season, scoring two late goals as a substitute to beat Newcastle, and with Mohamed Salah on the bench he took responsibility for equalising through a penalty in their eventual 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria.
Nunez has three goals and two assists this season but his all-round influence has been felt more than just from that contribution.
The Uruguayan, who had missed a couple of earlier chances but was denied a certain goal by a brilliant point-blank save by goalkeeper Tobias Lawal in the first half, also played a role in the second goal with his hold-up play on the halfway line.
Liverpool’s captain believes the 24-year-old is developing into the striker they hoped they were getting when they paid Benfica an initial £64million, which could rise to £85m, last summer.
“Everyone has a role to play whether you start or not. Everyone has now seen the potential and the quality he has.
“Against LASK Darwin was important with the goal. Long may it continue, and with the other boys as well.
“Up front, the competition is quite good. They all have to push each other and it’s good to see.”
One of those “other boys” – quite literally – was Ben Doak who became Liverpool’s fourth-youngest European player with his first start at the age of 17 years and 314 days.
The young Scot was given a run in Salah’s right-wing position and showed flashes of his talent despite being starved of opportunities in a poor first-half performance by the team.
“It was a big night for him,” added Van Dijk. “It was never going to be easy, it was a difficult pitch, but he could have set up at least two goals in the first half where he went past his man like no one was there but unfortunately nobody was on the end of it.
“I am pleased for him and I’m also very excited for him and the future that’s coming.
“You’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, if you watch closely it’s a fantastic group to be part of.
“We have a lot of quality, a lot of younger players, players who are getting new roles and they are enjoying that as well.
“But at the end of the day football is about results. Everybody wants to play their best football each and every game, but sometimes you have to find a way, like we did at Wolves (coming back from conceding first again to win 3-1).
“On Thursday it was after we conceded a set-piece, we showed that we stayed calm and found a way as well.”
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