Here are your Manchester City morning headlines for Wednesday, 28 October.
How Marseille surprised City in Champions League encounter
Pep Guardiola praised his Manchester City players for reacting well to a surprise formation used by Marseille in Tuesday night’s Champions League encounter.
Despite using a back four in every game so far this season. Andre Villa-Boas sent out his Marseille side in a back three with wing-backs against City, but Guardiola highlighted his team’s adaptability in responding to the unexpected change.
“Playing away in the Champions League is always tough,” the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss said. “It's really good, especially the way we played offensively and defensively and the patience that we have.
“We didn't expect five at the back but we adjusted really well and after five minutes we had taken three corners. That showed the way we came here the way we want to do.
“We learn a little bit more how you have to attack 3-5-2 or five at the back, it was a good result but also the performance. We didn't concede much and we created enough chances to win.”
Torres sent message by City teammate after goalscoring display
Aymeric Laporte says Ferran Torres must continue to improve if he is to nail down a place in the City starting line-up.
The Spaniard, who joined from Valencia in the summer transfer window, scored City’s opener in Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League victory over Marseille and Laporte was full of praise, and advice, for his new team-mate.
“He is a young guy. He has to improve many things,” Laporte said. “What he has done is very great, I think he deserves it because he works really hard every day to score many goals. I hope he can help us more on the pitch.”
Laporte also expressed his relief at having recovered from last season’s injury issues, commenting: “It was a very hard game and we are very happy with the win,” said Laporte. "I'm very happy to be back and I hope it's for a long time and I can play the next games, but we will see how things go.”
Former United players highlight where City are suffering at the back
Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves have pinpointed why City have suffered defensively this season, highlighting left-back as Guardiola’s biggest problem area.
City have picked up just eight points from a possible 15 in the Premier League this season, conceding eight goals from just five games.
When asked whether the summer signing of Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias was enough for Guardiola to sort out his defence, Hargreaves expressed his view.
“I think Dias and [Aymeric] Laporte is right (in the centre-back roles),” the former England international said. “Kyle [Walker] has been one of their best players this season but I think the left-back is still an issue.”
Ferdinand added: “It's huge [the gulf since Vincent Kompany left]. We have seen it down the years. When clubs don't reinforce in a particular area when they are losing big players, it's a huge area of importance.”
